Parliament Logjam: The Rajya Sabha witnessed a stormy exchange between the opposition and treasury benches on Thursday as the Opposition continued to demand a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah over
police action during last month’s student protests.
After the house resumed, opposition MPs raised slogans targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister, Amit Shah pressing for him to come to the House and respond to their concerns.
Amid the chaos, Kharge urged Chairman CP Radhakrishnan to direct the Home Minister to come to the Rajya Sabha and make a statement.
Rijiju objected to the demand, saying the Leader of the Opposition had been raising the same matter for the past seven days and that the rules did not allow such a direction.
“You cannot give direction to the Chair,” Rijiju said, adding that the Leader of the Opposition could not dictate terms to the House.
Rijiju also accused Kharge of “misusing” the post of Leader of the Opposition and said the Opposition could not repeatedly raise the same issue in the manner it was doing.
The minister also took a swipe at Congress leader Pawan Khera, alleging that the party leadership was not giving him an opportunity to make his maiden speech and that he was therefore coming into the Well of the House and raising slogans.
Amid the heated exchange, Rajya Sabha Chairman told Rijiju that he could convey the sentiment of the Opposition to the Home Minister.
Opposition has been demanding Amit Shah’s statement on police action against students, discussion on “misappropriation” of Ram temple donations and statehood for Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier on Wednesday, INDIA bloc parties took out a march from the Gandhi Statue at ‘Prerna Sthal’ to ‘Makar Dwar’ in Parliament, carrying placards and shouting slogans like ‘chhanda chor, gaddi chor’, ‘Amit Shah jawaab do’ and ‘chanda chor kahan milenge, BJP ke daftar mein’, with Leaders of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi taking the lead.
