New Delhi, November 23
A defiant Congress today forced the adjournment of the Rajya Sabha in the pre-lunch session after heated exchanges were witnessed between the Opposition and the Treasury Benches over the charges of “Talibanisation” of the country’s education system.
The trouble started in the question hour as Chairman Krishan Kant took up a starred question relating to the policy for writing textbooks. Members from Left parties were on their feet pointing out that there was a complaint that people in charge of preparing the syllabus were communalising knowledge.
The allegation was, however, countered by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Ms Rita Verma, who said the present government was only following the policies of the previous Congress and United Front ministries. But she admitted that four history school textbooks of the NCERT, prescribed for schoolchildren, had been found to contain factual errors, biases and colouration and steps were being taken to rectify these.
The situation went out of control when senior Congress member Arjun Singh, while raising a supplementary question snubbed BJP member T.N. Chaturvedi and charged the BJP-led Government with “Talibanisation of education in India.”
This sparked a vociferous protest from the Treasury Benches, leading to noisy scenes for nearly 15 minutes. While ruling party members demanded that the expression be expunged, Congress and Left party members were in a defiant mood and refused to budge, saying the expression was not unparliamentary.
Questioning under what rule the expression was unparliamentary, senior Congress member Pranab Mukherjee said: “You are a fascist, you are a Taliban. We will not withdraw a single word.” The Congress members were supported by other Opposition members.
Unable to put across his views, Mr Arjun Singh, a former Human Resource Development Minister, demanded a debate on education in the country, to which Mr Krishan Kant said he could give a notice for it.
When the Minister for State for Parliamentary Affairs Mr O. Rajagopal, suggested that it would be better to avoid the expression, unrelenting Congress members shouted “no, no”.
Intervening, the Leader of Opposition in the House, Dr Manmohan Singh said it was “most unfortunate” that a senior leader like Mr Arjun Singh was not allowed to complete even one sentence and was frequently interrupted by Mr Chaturvedi. “It is not a good behaviour. It is not acceptable to us,” he said.
This was strongly countered by the BJP members leading to the adjournment of the House for 15 minutes initially. When the House re-assembled, Mr Suresh Pachauri, who was in the Chair, said the Chairman was meeting senior leaders of various parties to find a solution and adjourned the House till 2.30 pm.
