Rajya Sabha witnesses war of words over renaming of Raj Bhavans, expunging of remarks

Rajya Sabha saw a heated exchange after AITC’s Dola Sen raised the Home Ministry’s directive to rename Raj Bhavans as Lok Bhavans. Debate veered into MGNREGA, prompting Chair and J.P. Nadda to restrict discussion to the original subject, sparking opposition protests

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha witnessed a heated exchange on Wednesday after AITC member Dola Sen raised the issue of the Ministry of Home Affairs’ November 25 directive to rename all Raj Bhavans in the country as Lok Bhavans during Zero Hour.

“But first of all, we would like to say that neither the Parliament, Assembly, nor the Cabinet is aware of this… They are not even discussing it with you, sir,” Sen said.

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However, the discussion took a contentious turn when Sen raised additional issues, including MGNREGA, prompting the Chair to intervene and state that the deviated remarks would not go on record.

Leader of the House J P Nadda objected to the deviation, saying, “You permitted her to speak during Zero Hour about the change of name from Raj Bhavan to Lok Bhavan. She spoke about MGNREGA and other issues. I would like to be very clear that because it does not relate to the subject, it should be deleted and it should not be brought on record and only issues related to Lok Bhavan should be admitted.” Chairman C P Radhakrishnan concurred, reiterating that “anything deviated from the subject will not go on record”.

Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge came to Sen’s defence, arguing, “She has not spoken any unparliamentary word. Everything is connected with the subject. And that subject was examined in your office, after that she spoke.” Accusing the government of stifling debate, Kharge said, “The Leader of the House cannot interfere and say whatever is said is unparliamentary and delete it. The Leader (of the House) is bulldozing. You don’t want to run according to parliamentary democracy.” The Chair maintained that proceedings were being conducted properly and urged members to stick to listed subjects during Zero Hour.

Nadda defended his intervention, stating, “I never bulldozed”, and clarified that he was only requesting that matters related to the subject remain on record.