Govt, opposition in war of words in Lok Sabha over disruption of Jaishankar's statement, House adjourned

A verbal spat broke out between Union minister Piyush Goyal and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in Lok Sabha on Thursday over the disruption by the opposition of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's statement, prompting a brief adjournment of the House. When the Chair asked Chowdhury to raise a point of order, Goyal stood up and said that he would not allow the Congress leader to speak in protest against the disruption of the external affairs minister's statement earlier in the day on India's foreign engagements since the Budget session.

Jaishankar gave a detailed summary of foreign engagements of the president, vice-president and the prime minister over the last four months amid loud sloganeering by the opposition. At one point, the minister was barely audible with "INDIA , INDIA" slogans being raised by members.

Later, when the Jan Vishwas Bill came up for consideration, Goyal took a jibe at opposition members wearing black clothes saying they want to hide their black money and black deeds inside their attire.


Without naming AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha who was photographed with a crow hovering over his head in the Parliament complex on Wednesday, Goyal said that in their black clothes have even attracted a crow.

As the war of words between the government and the opposition continued, the House was adjourned for 20 minutes.

Earlier in the day, Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 2 pm as opposition members continued with their protests on the Manipur issue.