Rajya Sabha paralysed again; opposition targets V K Singh, Mohan Bhagwat

NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party forced repeated adjournments of the Rajya Sabha on Friday, with members of the two major Uttar Pradesh parties agitating over separate issues and trooping into the well of the House to disrupt the Zero Hour and Question Hour alike. While members of the ruling SP protested against RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remarks calling for sacrifice to build the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the BSP disrupted proceedings over Union Minister VK Singh’s allegedly derogatory remarks against Dalits.

As soon as the Rajya Sabha assembled for the day, BSP chief Mayawati raised the issue of Singh’s remarks in the wake of the killing of two Dalit children in BJP-ruled Haryana recently. She marshalled her party members to troop into the well of the House, raising slogans against the minister. She had raised this issue earlier as well during the discussion on Constitution in Parliament. Later, Congress members too trooped into the well of the House supporting BSP’s cause demanding action against VK Singh. Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad rose in support of BSP members against Singh.

“He has compared the killing of two Dalit children with dogs. He can’t remain minister in the union cabinet and even a member of Parliament,” said Azad. Amid the din created by BSP members, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav and Naresh Agrawal raised the issue of Bhagwat’s fresh pitch for Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Fearing that their voices were getting drowned, Yadav, too, marshalled his party members into the well of the House to disrupt the proceedings.