Lok Sabha adjourned amid repeated protests over Gandhi family remarks

Lok Sabha proceedings were repeatedly adjourned on Wednesday following protests by opposition members over remarks targeting the Gandhi family and issues linked to an unpublished memoir. Continuous disruptions forced the House to be adjourned several times during the day

New Delhi: Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Wednesday amid repeated disruptions by the opposition over a variety of issues.

Amid indications that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may respond to the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address in the evening, the Chair adjourned the House soon after it reassembled at 5 pm.

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Opposition members were raising slogans as P P Chaudhury of the BJP rose to speak on the motion. Sandhya Rai, chairing the House, adjourned the proceedings within minutes.

Displaying banners and placards, Congress and other opposition members were standing in the Well as well as the aisles.

Earlier, the House was adjourned till 5 pm following an uproar over remarks by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey targeting the Gandhi family.

As the House reassembled at 2 pm, TDP MP Harish Balayogi resumed his address on the motion of thanks on the President’s address. After Balayogi, Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was on the Chair, called on Dubey to speak.

Dubey said while Rahul Gandhi wants to speak about an unpublished book, he has brought a series of books to expose the Gandhi family.

As Dubey kept listing books and what they said about various members of the Gandhi family, Tenneti said he could not allow this as the Speaker had already given a ruling disallowing such comments.

Tenneti cited Rule 349 against making such remarks.

Rule 349 bars members from reading from any book, newspaper or letter except in connection with the business of the House.

As opposition members strongly protested and Dubey remained unrelenting, Tenneti adjourned the House till 5 pm.

After the House was adjourned, Congress MPs met Speaker Om Birla to protest the Chair’s decision to allow Dubey to speak against the Gandhi family.

Outside the Parliament building, Congress MPs demonstrated demanding that Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi be allowed to speak on the President’s address.

Earlier, proceedings were adjourned till 2 pm following vociferous protests by opposition members over certain issues related to the unpublished “memoir” of former Army chief M M Naravane.

As soon as the House reassembled at 12 noon, opposition members were on their feet raising slogans against the government over the issue of the stand-off with China in 2020.

Amid the din, Speaker Birla allowed the laying of parliamentary papers on the table of the House. Later, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal made a statement on the India-US trade agreement.

Congress members had brought banners and posters featuring the former Army chief and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while Rahul Gandhi was seen flashing a book in the House.

Amid the sloganeering, the Speaker urged members to maintain the dignity of the House and slammed opposition members for displaying banners and posters.

As the opposition members remained unrelenting, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.

Before that, the House witnessed similar protests during the Question Hour.

Amid the protests, Birla said members should be allowed to ask questions and that everyone should respect the proceedings as well as maintain decorum in the House.

One question and its supplementaries were taken up during the Question Hour, which lasted for around five minutes.

As the din continued, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings till 12 noon.

On Tuesday, eight opposition members, including seven from the Congress and one from the CPI-M, were suspended for the remainder of the Budget session for unruly behaviour.

Since Monday afternoon, the House has been witnessing uproar after Gandhi was disallowed from quoting an article that cited the unpublished “memoir” of Naravane on the 2020 India-China conflict.