Uproar in RS over communal clashes

“What about the communal riots,” they asked Chairman Hamid Ansari as soon as he completed paying tributes to those killed in bomb blasts, stampedes and the recent Bihar floods.

The Left also raised questions about the Indo-US nuclear deal.

As members from Left parties rushed into the well, the Chhairman observed that it was a solemn occasion and the House should mourn the death of “all those innocent citizens who have lost their lives”.

After observing a minute’s silence, the members were again up on their feet and Rudra Narayan Pany (BJP) and some of his party colleagues rushed towards the podium expressing concern over the killing of VHP leader Swami Lakshmanand Saraswati in Kandhamal district of Orissa on August 23.

Congress members, including Shantaram Naik and others, were also on their feet wanting to raise some issues.

In the melee, the Chairman took up questions listed for the day, but as shouting continued, he adjourned the House till mid-day.

The House mourned the deaths of former members Chimanbhai Haribhai Shukla, N R Dasari, Thillai Villalan, J Chitharanjan, Khan Ghufran Zahidi, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, K K Birla, besides Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.

It also condoled deaths of 157 people in bomb blasts in various parts of the country, loss of 289 lives in stampedes in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan and deaths in Bihar floods.