Opposition disrupts Day 1 of Parliament's Monsoon Session as PM introduces newly-inducted ministers

As the Parliament's Monsoon Session commenced on Monday, it began on a stormy note as the Opposition, protesting over a host of issues including farm laws and fuel price hike, prevented Prime Minister Narendra Modi from introducing newly-inducted Union ministers, a customary practice.

The disruption by Opposition members drew sharp criticism from Modi who accused them of being unable to digest the fact that a large number of new ministers are women, Dalits, tribals and those from other backward classes.

Both Houses of the Parliament have been adjourned for the day, amid uproar from Opposition MPs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold a meeting with the floor leaders of all the parties of both the Houses on Tuesday at 6 pm. In the meeting, the COVID-19 vaccine policy will be discussed and a presentation on the pandemic situation will also be made by the health ministry.

Here's what Modi said: As the Prime Minister rose in Lok Sabha to introduce the new ministers, Opposition members created an uproar by raising slogans.

• The prime minister said he expected members of the House to show enthusiasm by thumping their desks to welcome the ministers, most of whom have come from backward and rural backgrounds with many being children of farmers.
• "However, probably, some people did not like that people of such background have become ministers and that is why they are now conducting themselves in such a manner," the prime minister said in Lok Sabha.
• In Rajya Sabha too, Opposition members, some of them in the Well, raised slogans forcing repeated adjournments.
• Expressing anguish over the conduct of the protesting Opposition members, Modi questioned their mentality behind their behaviour of not allowing him to introduce women, Dalit and scheduled tribe MPs who have been made ministers.
• He said a number of women, Dalit and those belonging to scheduled tribes have been made Union ministers, but some Opposition members do not want to hear their names and give them the due honour.
• "What is this mentality?," he wondered and said it was for the first time he has seen this in the House.

As the Opposition members continued their uproar, Modi laid the list of newly-inducted ministers on the table of the House.

Piyush Goyal, Rajnath Singh condemn disruption

The new Leader of the House and Union minister Piyush Goyal said it was a tradition since the times of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru that new ministers are introduced to the House.

Goyal condemned the behaviour of the Opposition members and said such conduct would be harmful to the democratic traditions of the country.

मानसून सत्र के पहले दिन संसद के दोनों सदनों में विपक्ष का अमर्यादित व्यवहार दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण था।

पहली बार इतनी बड़ी संख्या में महिलाओं, अनुसूचित जाति/जनजाति, पिछड़े वर्ग व पूर्वोत्तर के प्रतिनिधि मंत्रीमंडल में शामिल हुए हैं। विपक्ष द्वारा उनका परिचय तक ना होने देना निंदनीय है। pic.twitter.com/0NdYR5B54E

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) July 19, 2021

Defence minister Rajnath Singh said that he had seen the tradition being broken for the first time in years.

"The strength of Parliament is in maintaining healthy traditions. Both Opposition and Treasury should maintain healthy traditions. Even if one or 50 new ministers are inducted, the whole House listens to their introduction by the prime minister with decorum... This is sad, unfortunate and an unhealthy approach," Singh, who is also the Deputy Leader of Lok Sabha, said.

Naming the Congress, Singh said what the opposition party did was "unhealthy".

अपने २४ वर्षों के संसदीय जीवन में पहली बार मैंने देखा है कि इस परम्परा को तोड़ा गया है। जो कुछ भी कांग्रेस पार्टी ने आज किया है, वह दुखद और दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण होने के साथ-साथ लोकतांत्रिक परंपराओं के प्रति उनका unhealthy approach है।

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) July 19, 2021

Here's what happened in the Lok Sabha today: Soon after Lok Sabha met at 11 AM, four new members who recently got elected in bypolls took oath as members.

• When Speaker Om Birla asked Modi to introduce the new ministers, Leader of Congress Party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said his party has given notices to discuss issues including economy and (rising) prices.
• Members from Congress and Trinamool Congress raised placards demanding the withdrawal of "black laws" on agriculture. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Patel said the prime minister should be allowed to introduce the ministers as per convention and the issues can be raised later.
• The Speaker appealed to the Opposition members to not disrupt the proceedings as it is the tradition for the prime minister to introduce new ministers to the House.
• "You have been in power too. You should not lower the dignity of the House. You are breaking a good tradition. This is the largest democracy and you are setting a bad precedent. I appeal you to maintain the dignity of the House," Birla told the Opposition members.
• However, they did not relent.
• Modi requested the Speaker to consider the ministers introduced and he would lay a copy of the names on the table.
• Criticising the Opposition for not allowing the prime minister to introduce the new ministers, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said it was happening for the first time in his 24 years of parliamentary career.
• The House also paid tributes to 40 former members who passed away in recent months.
• As Speaker Birla started making obituary references, he asked Opposition members to leave the Well and return to their seats at least during obituaries. The members then returned to their seats.
• After the House stood in silence for the departed former colleagues, Harsimrat Kaur Badal (SAD) and some Congress members said obituaries should also be paid to those agitating farmers who have died in the recent past.
• As the disruptions continued despite Speaker Om Birla's repeated pleas to maintain decorum, the House was adjourned after nearly 40 minutes till 2 pm.
• Later, the proceedings of Lok Sabha were adjourned for the second time amid sloganeering by Opposition members over various issues, including those related to rising prices and the new farm laws.
• Rajendra Agrawal, who was in the Chair, adjourned the House till 3:30 PM barely 10 minutes after proceedings began at 2 pm.
• Agrawal urged members to go back to their seats and allow the House to function normally, but as protests continued, he adjourned the proceedings.

Earlier, four newly elected members — Maddila Gurumoorthy (YSR Congress), Mangal Suresh Angadi (BJP), M P Abdussamad Samadani (IUML), Vijayakumar (Congress) — took oath as the House convened after a gap of nearly four months.

Here's what happened in the Rajya Sabha today: Meanwhile, in the Upper House, Chairman Venkaiah Naidu did not allow the 17 notices by different Opposition parties to suspend the scheduled business of the house and take up the matters raised by them.

He said it was not feasible to take 17 issues in one go, and assured the members that all the important matters would be taken up in due course of time. But the assurance did not pacify the Opposition members who continued to protest, forcing Naidu to adjourn the House first till 2 PM and then till 3 pm

The House was later adjourned for the day amid continued sloganeering by the Opposition.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday could not introduce his newly-inducted Union ministers to Rajya Sabha as several slogan-shouting opposition members trooped into the well of the House to protest over various issues.
• As soon as the House reassembled at 2:00 pm, there were again uproarious scenes, and the House was adjourned till 3:00 pm by Deputy Rajya Sabha Chairman Harivansh.
• Earlier, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu had to adjourn proceedings of the House till 2 pm as Opposition members, some of them in the Well, kept raising slogans on various issues.
• Expressing anguish over the conduct of the protesting Opposition members, Modi questioned their mentality behind their behaviour of not allowing him to introduce women, Dalit and scheduled tribe MPs who have been made ministers.
• Earlier in the morning, when the House assembled on day one of the Monsoon session, the proceedings were adjourned for an hour as a mark of respect to departed sitting MPs Raghunath Mohapatra and Rajeev Satav.
• No sooner did the House meet again at around 12.25 pm, Opposition members started raising slogans as the chairman was making his opening remarks about the expectations from the current session amid the Covid pandemic.
• Amidst sloganeering, the chairman asked the prime minister to introduce the newly-inducted ministers in the Council of Ministers.
• However, the protesting members kept raising slogans.
• As the Opposition members continued their uproar, Modi laid the list of newly-inducted ministers on the table of the House.
• Meanwhile, the Chairman did not allow the 17 notices by different Opposition parties to suspend the scheduled business of the house and take up the matters raised by them.
• He said it was not feasible to take 17 issues in one go, and assured the members that all the important matters would be taken up in due course of time.
• But the assurance did not pacify the Opposition members, forcing Naidu to adjourn the House till 2 pm.

The new Leader of the House and Union minister Piyush Goyal said it was a tradition since the times of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru that new ministers are introduced to the House.

Goyal condemned the "behaviour" of the Opposition members and said such conduct would be harmful to the democratic traditions of the country.

With inputs from PTI

 

July 19, 2021 at 05:03PM