Opposition disrupts Rajya Sabha, House adjourned twice before lunch

NEW DELHI: Opposition led by Samajwadi Party and JD-U today disrupted proceedings in Rajya Sabha accusing the government of using police force to prevent workers from attending the Janata Parivar rally at Jantar Mantar and sought an apology from it.

Members of SP and JD-U stormed the well and started shouting slogans against the government alleging atrocities on their workers yesterday, forcing the Chair to adjourn the House till noon and then till 1 PM.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Naresh Agarwal (SP) said workers at the rally were lathi-charged by police and prevented from entering Delhi to participate in the rally.

"Workers attending the Janata Parivar rally yesterday were prevented from entering Delhi and were lathi-charged. The government's dictatorship will not work. They cannot throttle the voice of the opposition by using force. Government should reply. If government does not reply, we will not allow the House to run," he said, while demanding an apology from the government.

He said his party wants that the House should function on the last day of the session, but Government should first apologise.

Sharad Yadav (JD-U) said the government should reply and assure the House that such a situation would not happen in future.

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien kept urging the protesting members to return to their seats so that the House could proceed with Zero Hour mentions on the last day of the Winter Session.

SP members, however, did not relent and kept raising slogans like "Government's dictatorship will not work. Prime Minister should reply".

Some members of TMC, Left parties and Congress too were on their feet.

Amid uproar, Kurien adjourned the House till noon. When the House reassembled, similar scenes prevailed and it was adjourned till 1 PM.
When the House met for Question Hour, Congress members stood up demanding a statement from the Prime Minister on growing communal incidents and shouted "PM lao, House chalao."

Satyavrat Chaturvedi (Cong) accused the treasury bench of failing to run the House.

His remark was countered by some members from the treasury bench.

Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) also demanded Prime Minister's presence in the House and make a statement after listening to the members.

As Chairman Hamid Ansari's plea to allow the proceedings went unheeded, he adjourned the House till 1 PM.