Opposition disrupts Rajya Sabha over Arunachal, Cong walks out of Lok Sabha

The House was to take up voting on a bill to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950. But voting could not be taken up due to lack of quorum.

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New Delhi: A view of the Rajya Sabha in New Delhi on Friday. (Source: PTI)

Opposition parties led by the Congress continued to use political events in Arunachal Pradesh to block Rajya Sabha proceedings on Friday, and demanded an immediate recall of Governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa.

The Opposition MPs kept shouting slogans from the well of the House even as Deputy Chairman P J Kurien, and later Chairman Hamid Ansari, tried to forcefully run the proceedings. The surprise addition to the Opposition ranks was that of AIADMK MPs, who too joined in the sloganeering but stopped short of moving into the well.

Leader of Opposition in the House Ghulam Nabi Azad accused the Governor of making a mockery of the Constitution. “Never before has any President or Governor convened a session of Parliament or state Assembly without the consent of the council of ministers, and neither has the President or Governor ever directed that every detail of the proceedings of Parliament or Assembly be communicated to him in the evening,” he said in a brief speech. He also criticised the governor for requisitioning central paramilitary forces from the Centre without the consent of the state government.

BJP’s Prakash Javadekar and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi objected, saying a request for a substantive motion of discussion on the Arunachal Pradesh issue was already pending before the chairman.

Kurien tried to run the business for some time, allowing members to raise their issues during Zero Hour even as Congress MPs continued to chant “Governor, Recall”. Kurien finally adjourned the House for 15 minutes.

The pandemonium continued when the House reassembled at 12 pm. Ansari tried to run Question Hour. But only MPs from the treasury benches asked supplementary questions. The Trinamool and SP staged walkouts on the Arunachal issue. After three questions, Ansari adjourned the House again.

In the afternoon, the House was to take up voting on a bill to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950. But voting could not be taken up due to lack of quorum.

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Meanwhile, in Lok Sabha, the Congress staged a walkout after Speaker Sumitra Mahajan did not allow them to speak on the developments in Arunachal Pradesh. Party leaders, including their president Sonia Gandhi, were in the well shouting slogans after Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge was not allowed to make a statement on Arunachal.

“We are constrained to say that your (Speaker) blessings are never on the Opposition,” he was heard saying amid the din of slogans like “Yeh pakshpaat bandh karo (stop this partiality).” Their demand was the the Arunachal Governor be recalled. But Mahajan was unmoved. “You raise slogans every day. The government cannot take decisions and the House cannot run like this,” she said.