The second day of the Monsoon session of Parliament had to be adjourned without any substantial business transpiring as both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Tuesday witnessed disruptions and protests over price rise and the newly imposed goods and services tax (GST) on essential commodities.
Also read: Parliament’s Monsoon Session, Day 2 updates | Second day washed out over GST hike, price rise
As soon as Lok Sabha proceedings started at 11 a.m. and Speaker Om Birla started the Question Hour, Congress-led Opposition members trooped into the well of the House and started raising slogans against the Narendra Modi government over the issue of price rise and GST.
Placards in LS
“Gabbar Singh Strikes Again,” read one of the placards. An angry Mr. Birla asked the Opposition members to go back to their seats and reminded that carrying of placards inside the House was against rules.
The Speaker also urged the members to allow the Question Hour as several of the questions pertained to farmers.
“You raise farmers issue outside the House but not inside. You raise the issue of price rise outside the House but not inside. In the last session, you did not participate in the debate on price rise. This is not good,” Mr. Birla said before adjourning the House till 2 p.m.
As soon as the House reassembled at 2 p.m., Opposition members belonging to the Congress, Trinamool, DMK and others came to the well of the House carrying placards to protest against price rise and imposition of the GST on some new items.
Also read: Decision on GST hike taken after all States’ consent: Nirmala Sitharaman
After laying of papers by the members, Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, who was on the chair adjourned the House for the day.
Rajya Sabha protests
The Rajya Sabha too was adjourned for the day after witnessing two disruptions.
Soon after the House assembled, Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu said that he had received a notice under Rule 267 by the leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and others to discuss the price rise issue but he has decided not to allow the discussion.
As the Opposition members rose in protest, the House was adjourned till 2 p.m. When it reconvened post-lunch, Opposition protested against price rise and GST over milk products, prompting the Chair to adjourn it for the day.
The Opposition’s aggressive stance was seen outside as Congress MPs including former party chief Rahul Gandhi protested in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue inside the Parliament complex.
While Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Lok Sabha members Manickam Tagore, Shashi Tharoor, Rajya Sabha member K C Venugopal were among those who protested.
Other leaders including Supriya Sule of the NCP, Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party, Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena and Binoy Viswom of CPI joined in.
Rahul Gandhi’s FB post
In a separate Facebook post, Mr. Gandhi made a scathing attack on the Modi government over price rise, GST and the fall in the value of Rupee and called it an “extortionist government”.
“This time, ‘extortion’ government? From now on, five per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be charged from the public on packaged products like milk, curd, butter, rice, pulses, bread. The daily food items became expensive, the cylinder costs Rs 1,053, but the government says ‘ Sab changa si’‘ (all is well). Meaning that this inflation is the problem of people, not of the government,” Mr. Gandhi wrote in his post.
