Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 25: The face-off between the government and the Opposition over the latter’s demand for an urgent discussion on price rise and hike in GST rates on some food items escalated on Monday leading to the Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla suspending four Congress members for the remaining part of the current session for alleged “unruly behaviour.”
The current monsoon session is due to conclude on August 12. The four MPs were suspended for displaying placards in the House over the price rise and GST hikes. They were suspended after the Speaker’s warnings not to display placards inside the House went unheeded by the protesting members. Om Birla had earlier warned them to behave and hold the placards outside the house if they wanted to protest.
The suspended Congress MPs are Manickam Tagore, Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and TN Prathapan.
After the Speaker’s action, the four went near Mahatma Gandhi’s statue on the parliament grounds and raised slogans there. The Congress said the government was trying to intimidate its MPs by suspending some of them. “Our MPs were only trying to raise issues which matter to the people,” the Congress said.
“The MPs were holding placards raising the issues of rise in prices of gas cylinder, imposition of GST on items such as flour and buttermilk. We moved an adjournment motion demanding a discussion on these issues, but no discussion was held,” Congress’s Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi said.
Proceedings on the sixth day of the ongoing Monsoon Session on Monday resumed at 2 p.m., instead of 11 a.m. due to the swearing-in ceremony of Droupadi Murmu as the 15th President of India at the Parliament House. But as soon as the House assembled, several adjournments continued to disrupt both Houses and they adjourned for an hour till 3 p.m. a few minutes after convening amid Opposition sloganeering and protest.
A visibly upset Lok Sabha Speaker had warned opposition MPs that he was willing for a discussion after 3 pm, but won’t tolerate any placard protest inside the house. “If you want to show placards, do it outside the house. I am ready for discussions, but don’t think my kind-heartedness is weakness,” the Speaker said.
When the session resumed after 3 pm, the opposition MPs returned with the placards. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, condemning the conduct of the opposition MPs, requested the Speaker to take action against MPs who brought the placards inside the house again.
“The people of the country want the house to run. But it can’t run like this. I will not allow such a situation to remain in the house,” Birla said. “If you want to show placards, do it outside the house” the Speaker said. Carrying placards and banners, the opposition MPs demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come to parliament and address their concerns over rising inflation and goods and services tax, or GST, hike on essential items.
The opposition has been demanding a discussion in parliament on price rise and had stalled the proceedings in both houses ever since the start of the monsoon session on July 18. The Rajya Sabha Leader of the House Piyush Goyal said the government was ready for talks on inflation as it wants people to know what steps have been taken to fight price rise. “Inflation used to be in double digits during Congress/UPA rule but now it is around 7 per cent, which is less compared to other countries considering the problems around the world. The opposition is running away from the debate as they know they will be exposed,” Goyal claimed.
The Rajya Sabha was also hit by several disruptions which continued to discuss the “Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022,” amid loud sloganeering by the Opposition side. The Upper House also adjourned at 5:50 p.m. shifting the consideration and passing of the Bill, as well as the Minister’s statement on it to Tuesday.
So far both the Houses have failed to transact significant business since the monsoon session began on July 18 with the opposition protesting and demanding a discussion over GST on essential food commodities, high inflation and price rise. According to officials, only 27 per cent of business was done during the first week of the ongoing session in the Rajya Sabha and 16 per cent in the Lok Sabha due to continuous disruptions.
Meanwhile, the Congress has also raised the issue of the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikaurjun Kharge of having not given a seat matching to his position at the president’s oath taking ceremony on Monday morning. The party complained today in a letter to the Rajya Sabha chairman.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh tweeted a letter “signed by all opposition parties (including Trinamool)” in which he described it as “deliberate disrespect” to a senior leader. Kharge was seated at a spot “not commensurate with the position he holds”, said Ramesh. “We are writing to express our shock and protest at this deliberate disrespect shown to a very senior leader violating the warrant of precedence and not in accordance with protocol courtesies due to him,” the Congress leader wrote.
Kharge was seated in the front row but at the extreme left corner of the Central Hall of parliament, where Droupadi Murmu was sworn in as President this morning. BJP chief JP Nadda and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had more prominent seats, the Congress alleged, calling it “deliberate insult by the Home Ministry.” The government has not responded to the charge but officials said Kharge had been seated in the front row, so there was no violation of protocol.