New Delhi [India], September 22 (ANI): Opposition leaders staged a walk-out from the Rajya Sabha and held a protest before the Gandhi statue in the Parliament premises on Tuesday.
Parliamentarians from Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Shiv Sena, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Communist Party of India (Marxist) boycotted the house demanding revocation of suspension of the eight MPs.
Meanwhile, the dharna which was being staged by the suspended Rajya Sabha MPs ended after the Opposition members boycotted the house.
Speaking to ANI, Leader of Congress in the Upper House Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the boycott would continue till the Centre accepts three demands.
“We will boycott Parliament session until Government accepts our three demands – government to bring another bill under which no private player can purchase below MSP, MSP to be fixed under formula recommended by Swaminathan Commission, and government agencies like FCI shouldn’t buy crops below MSP,” Azad said.
Earlier in the House, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu had urged the Opposition leaders to “rethink, introspect, return to the House to take part in discussions”.
“I am not happy about the suspension of the members. The action has been taken on their conduct. We have nothing against any member,” Naidu had said.
The Rajya Sabha witnessed unruly scenes on Sunday as Opposition members stormed the well of the House and reached the Deputy Chairman’s seat to protest against the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020. Later, eight MPs were suspended by the Rajya Sabha Chairman on Monday over the ruckus created in the Upper House.
The bills were passed by the Upper House through voice vote. Both the Bills were earlier passed by Lok Sabha through voice vote. (ANI)
Opposition will boycott session till our demands are met: Ghulam Nabi Azad
We will boycott the monsoon session till the government brings another Bill which assures that the private players will not be able to purchase produce from the farmers below the MSP and our other demands are not met, said Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday.
The senior Congress leader, speaking in the Rajya Sabha, also demanded the revocation of suspension of the eight MPs who had been suspended by the Chairman over the ruckus on September 20.
“Till our demands, which include revocation of suspension of the 8 MPs and the government to bring another Bill under which no private player can purchase below MSP are not met, the Opposition will boycott the session,” Azad said.
The senior leader, however, agreed that the events in the Rajya Sabha on Sunday shouldn’t have taken place in the manner but said that MPs were given very limited time to speak on the issue which was the root of discontentment among them.
“No one is happy with the incidents that have taken place in this House…The public wants their leaders should be heard. No one can put across their views in just 2-3 minutes. There will be 90 per cent de-escalation if MPs are not constrained by time to speak,” he said.
He also raised the issue of Bills being not sent to standing committees for scrutiny among other issues and asserted that when Congress-led governments were in power the leaders of Opposition were not constrained by any time limit for speaking in the House. (ANI)
