This Article is From Aug 10, 2021

Rajya Sabha Adjourned Again Amid Opposition Protests

The House met after the brief adjournment at 2.32 pm, but the Opposition MPs again started raising slogans.

Rajya Sabha Adjourned Again Amid Opposition Protests

Earlier, the House was adjourned till 3.03 pm in the post-lunch session.

New Delhi:

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day after witnessing multiple disruptions.

As soon as the House re-assembled at 4 pm, Bhubaneswar Kalita, who was in the Chair, adjourned the proceedings till 11 am on Wednesday.

The Upper House of Parliament witnessed several adjournments on Tuesday due to a continuous uproar by Opposition members, mainly from the Congress, over the conversion of a calling attention motion into a short-duration discussion on the issue of farm laws.

When the Rajya Sabha re-assembled at 3:03 pm, Mr Kalita said the deputy chairman has called the members of the ruling BJP and the Opposition in his chamber for a discussion.

He then adjourned the House till 4 pm.

Earlier, the House was adjourned till 3.03 pm in the post-lunch session.

As soon as it resumed after lunch at 2 pm, Mr Kalita called for initiating a short-duration discussion on problems related to agriculture and their solutions.

Raising to lodge his protest, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told the Chair that his notice for calling attention motion has been converted into a short-duration discussion without taking a sense of the House and said the decision was unilaterally taken.

Union minister Pralhad Joshi said this has never happened, but if a sense of the House is required, then take it.

Mr Kalita said, "This is the decision of the chairman, so I cannot go back and we are taking up the discussion."

He invited BJP's Vijay Pal Singh Tomar for initiating the discussion. In the meanwhile, the Opposition began raising slogans against the government.

Mr Tomar asked the Chair how could he speak amid the din, but continued with his speech and blamed the Congress for the poor state of farmers.

Later, BJD leader Prasanna Acharya also spoke amid the din.

As the Opposition members continued raising slogans, it became difficult to hear Mr Acharya and the Chair adjourned the House till 2.32 pm.

While Mr Acharya was speaking, a protesting member climbed atop the table of the secretary general. He remained in the Well of the House and continued sloganeering.

Explaining to the Chair, Mr Ramesh said, "The ruling of the Chair on December 3, 2015 says a calling attention motion can be converted into a short-duration discussion after a complete sense of the House is taken. No sense of the House was taken. This is unilateral and not acceptable to me."

"On July 23, I had given the notice for calling attention motion on the three black farm laws and the ongoing farmers'' agitation for the last 9-10 months. Today, I find my name shown against the short-duration discussion. My calling attention motion has been converted into a short-duration discussion on general topic agriculture problem and situation," he said.

When the House met after the brief adjournment at 2.32 pm, the Opposition MPs again started raising slogans.

Mr Kalita adjourned the proceedings for 30 minutes till 3.03 pm.

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