Congress-led protests over imposition of President's rule in Uttarakhand today led to wastage of the second consecutive day of Rajya Sabha which saw repeated adjournments and early termination of the day's proceedings.
As the Upper House met for the day, five new members including Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Swapan Dasgupta and Subramanian Swamy, Olympic medalist boxer M C Mary Kom and Narendra Jadhav, member of erstwhile National Advisory Council (NAC) took oath.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was present, greeted them.
However soon after the oath, Congress members trooped into the Well of the House and shouted slogans, after government rejected their demand for a discussion on a motion on dismissal of the Harish Rawat led government in Uttarakhand.
The ruckus led to repeated adjournments of the House and it was finally adjourned for the day just minutes after 3 pm.
Earlier, Leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said no discussion other than on proclamation of President's Rule in Uttarakhand can take place.
The Minister said discussion will take place when the proclamation for President's Rule is placed before the House.
"There is no procedure of having pre-proclamation discussion," he said.
Justifying imposition of central rule in the state, Jaitley said the "real breakdown of constitutional machinery" happened in Uttarakhand when the presiding officer (Speaker) "ignored" the vote of 35 out of 67 members against the appropriation bill to declare it passed.
After Jaitley said no discussion can take place, Congress members raised anti-government slogans "Modi teri taanashahi nahi chalegi, nahi chalegi (dictatorship of Narendra Modi will not be tolerated)," forcing the House to adjourn till 1200 hours.
Deputy Chairman P J Kurien's pleading that the Chair was in favour of a discussion and the protestors should allow the House to function went unheeded.
Congress leaders Anand Sharma, Pramod Tiwari, Naresh Agrawal of SP had given notices under rule 267 seeking suspension of business to take up discussion on use of Article 356 in Uttrakhand. The demand was supported by BSP leader Mayawati.
Jaitley, while referring to the developments in Uttarakhand Assembly, contended that it had never happened in the history of Independent India that a presiding officer of a state assembly has converted majority into minority and vice versa.
Congress leader Anand Sharma attacked the government
saying that it "cannot hide under rules to cover what they have done in Uttarakhand."
He said Rule 267 as well as Rule 176 for short duration discussion do not provide any condition for initiating a debate on any issue and there have been umpteen precedents when sub-judice matters have been debated in the House.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi raised questions asking if Congress actually wanted a discussion or was looking for disrupting proceedings.
Throughout the day, acrimonious scenes were witnessed but the government managed to move two Bills - The Appropriation Acts (Repeal) Bill and The Repealing and Amending (Third) Bill amid din for consideration.
Because of the pandemonium, the House was first adjourned at around 11.30 am till 12 pm.
The opposition protests continued when the House re-assembled and Chairman Hamid Ansari took up Question Hour.
With slogan-shouting by Congress members in the Well continuing unabated, he adjourned the House for 30 minutes.
When the House met again at 1235 hours, Congress members again entered the Well and raised slogans, as pleas by Ansari to allow the Question Hour went unheeded in the din.
Amid slogans like "Loktantra ki hatya band karo" (stop the murder of democracy) and "halla bol" being, Ansari adjourned the House till 2 PM.
At 2 PM, members of the Congress raised objections to the remarks of Jaitley which, they said, questioned the action of the Speaker of Uttarakhand Assembly.
Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said he respected Jaitley a lot because he has always spoken out for the dignity and position of the Speaker.
He said the Congress has always listened to Jaitley's contention regarding the decisions of Speaker being supreme even when they had raised questions about the Lok Sabha Speaker's decision to bring in a bill through the Money Bill route.
"He (Jaitley) has always said the Speaker's decision is final and cannot be challenged. But then he questions the decision of the Speaker of (Uttarakhand) Assembly. We cannot accept two understandings," he said.
Jaitley hit back, saying that when the proclamation for President's Rule is discussed, the government will justify each clause and reason why the Rule was imposed.
He again questioned how the Appropriation Bill was passed in the state Assembly. "It is for the first time in 70 years that a defeated government was allowed to continue," Jaitley claimed.
Azad retorted that the NDA-led Centre had not even waited for 24 hours before declaring President's Rule even when the Governor had given time till March 28 to prove majority following consultation between him, the Speaker and the government.
