Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday hit out at the Congress and other protesting parties for the ruckus in Parliament and asked them to introspect why their MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, were absent during the just-concluded session. Prahlad Joshi asked the Opposition to counter the government with numbers rather than theatrics.
Joshi also said that those not having any faith in Gandhian principles sat in front of the Gandhi statue in protest on orders of “naqli Gandhis”, a not-so-subtle reference to the Nehru-Gandhi family, and criticised the Opposition MPs who climbed the secretary general’s table and tore the rule book.
“It was a black day in the history of independent India and blot on the Opposition,” Prahlad Joshi told news agency PTI in an interview.
Rajya Sabha witnessed chaotic scenes during the passage of two agricultural reform bills – 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 – on Sunday, September 20.
Objecting to the manner in which the farm bills were being passed, opposition members stormed the Well of the House, tore papers, climbed on tables, shouted slogans, and even threw the rule book at Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who was presiding at that time.
Eight opposition MPs were suspended by Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Monday for “unruly behaviour”. Protesting the decision, these MPs spent the night in the lawns near Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in the Parliament complex.