Rajya Sabha adjourned for day amid Opposition uproar on revocation of suspension of 12 MPs
Dec 15, 2021
New Delhi [India], December 15 : The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday adjourned for the day following three earlier adjournments over Opposition parties' continuous uproar seeking revocation of suspension of 12 MPs from the House.
The final adjournment was announced by Bhubaneswar Kalitha, who was on the Chair, as the Opposition members kept on sloganeering, and trooped in the Well of the House.
Kalitha began short duration discussion over the Omicron variant of coronavirus based on a resolution moved by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sushmita Dev when the House reassembled at 2.18 pm after the third adjournment over the same issue regarding revocation of MP's suspension.
The Opposition, however, refused to participate in the discussion until the suspension of MPs is not revoked.
A united Opposition including Congress, TMC, NCP, RJD, AAP, Left, IUML, Shiv Sena, SP and BSP took part in the protest against the government and the members of these parties also showed placards -- two of which mentioned "save democracy" and "suspend us".
The Opposition members also sat in the Well of the House when the Chair continued a short discussion on the Omicron variant despite the pandemonium was on, and many BJP members spoke on the issue.
Terming the Opposition's demand to revoke the suspension of MPs, Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal said "they (Opposition) leaders attacked the marshals who do not care for their lives in securing the Parliament".
"They do not want to regret on their acts. Even senior members of the Opposition are not ready to repent over the issue. Government is ready to revoke the suspension of the MPs but they will have to regret for their act."
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said "The Opposition is being accused of on those offences which we have not done."
From the Chair, Kalitha tried to persuade the Opposition leaders to participate in the short discussion sought by themselves but the din continued. He then adjourned the House till 11 am on Thursday.
Earlier, the House faced three adjournments-- first till noon, second till 2 pm and the third till 2.18 pm-- over the issue to revoke the suspension of 12 MPs
In a move that angered the Opposition and set the stage for acrimonious exchanges, a dozen members of Opposition parties in Rajya Sabha were suspended from the winter session on the very first day on Monday following a motion brought in by the government.
The members were suspended for alleged unruly conduct towards the end of the monsoon session in August when marshals were called after Opposition members stormed the Well of the House during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021.
The suspended members comprise six from the Congress, two each from Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, and one each from CPI and CPM: Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, Ripun Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of Congress; Dola Sen, Shanta Chhetri of Trinamool Congress; Priyanka Chaturvedi, Anil Desai of Shiv Sena; Elamaram Kareem of CPM; and, Binoy Viswam of CPI.
All the suspended 12 MPs used to sit near Mahatma Gandhi statue inside the Parliament premises since they were suspended from the House, and the Opposition parties have been relentlessly disrupting House proceedings every day over the issue barring a few occasions.