Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day after House suspends 8 MPs over unruly behaviour

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 21

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the fifth time on Monday, this time for the day, owing to the continued defiance by the members who were suspended for the remaining portion of the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the fourth time around 11.30 am following continued ruckus by the Opposition members over the suspension of eight MPs.

The House was adjourned till noon.

The members, who were suspended, continued with defiance of the motion of suspension adopted against them, which bars their presence. They, along with other Opposition members, raised slogans in the Well of the House.

Also read: Muting of democratic India continues: Congress on Rajya Sabha MPs suspension

Opposition parties hit out at govt over suspension of 8 MPs, hold protest on parliament premises

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the third time for another half-an-hour as the Members, against whom the motion was passed under Rule 256 for unruly conduct, continued their disobedience.

The House was adjourned by Deputy Chairman Harivansh. Before calling for the adjournment, the Deputy Chairman assured the members that he would allow government business after first giving chance to the Leader of Opposition to make his submission.

When pointed out by the Opposition members regarding their yesterday’s demand for division of votes, Harivansh said: “We have passed that stage. You did not go to your seats then to allow it.”

The second adjournment was passed immediately after Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ introduced the Institute of Information Technology Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

Rajya Sabha adopted a motion suspending eight members from the House for the remaining portion of the Monsoon Session for disrupting proceedings of the House on Sunday during the passing of two farm reform bills.

The suspended members are Derek O’Brien and Doka Sen of the TMC; Rajeev Satav, Ripun Bora and Syed Nazir Hussain of the Congress; KK Ragesh and Elaram Kareem of the CPI-M; and Sanjay Singh of the Aam Admi Party.

A motion for their suspension was moved by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan.

The House was adjourned till 10 am for the first time following a ruckus created by the Opposition members after the motion of suspension was adopted.

The motion said the members named for the suspension had broken decorum and showed unruly behaviour in the House.

Earlier, House Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said: “It was a very bad day for Rajya Sabha,” adding that the members had entered the Well of the House, got onto the table and danced, and tore papers and rule books.

“It is condemnable,” Naidu said, adding: “They threw the rule book at the Deputy Chairman and broke mics.”

The Deputy Chairman said the members abused and physically threatened him.

“He would have been harmed,” Naidu said. He said he wondered what would have happened to the Deputy Chairman had the marshals not called in.

M Venkaiah Naidu rejected the no-confidence motion against Deputy Chairman given by Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and other 46 Opposition Members on the grounds that it was not in the proper format.

“Is it parliamentary standard?” Naidu asked the members.

He said he had checked the records and the Deputy Chairman had persistently asked the Members to go to their seats and allow the House to function. He had made it known that he would allow voting and division of votes if they went to their seats, Naidu added.

The Rajya Sabha had been adjourned for half an hour after it assembled following the first adjournment.

The reason was the commotion created by the Opposition members who did not leave the House even after they were named and motion of their suspension adopted.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.