The Hindu : Front Page : Unruly scenes in Parliament

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Friday, Apr 27, 2007
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Unruly scenes in Parliament

Special Correspondent

BJP walkout over Government's refusal to make statement on Geelani's speech

NEW DELHI: Unruly scenes in both Houses marked the opening day of the post-recess budget session of Parliament, leading to the adjournment of the Rajya Sabha for the day and the Lok Sabha twice in the pre-lunch session.

In the Lok Sabha, Question Hour was lost as members tried to raise a host of issues including the stay on Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation in higher education, the anti-India speech of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, and the Babli Barrage Project. The House adjourned ahead of schedule for lunch as the ruling benches protested against the fake encounters by the Gujarat police.

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had led an Opposition walkout over the Government's refusal to make an immediate statement on Mr. Geelani's anti-India diatribe, its deputy leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra found himself with depleted strength when the ruling benches trained their guns on the Gujarat Government for the fake encounters.

Silence questioned

Questioning the Government's silence on the rally organised by Mr. Geelani last Sunday — particularly, since it was reportedly attended by Lashkar-e-Taiba supporters — Mr. Malhotra and Prabhunath Singh (Janata Dal-United) demanded a statement from the Government. Echoing their demand for a statement from the Government, Gurudas Dasgupta (Communist Party of India) described Mr. Geelani's rally as "dangerously outrageous" but said it should not be used to vitiate the peace process.

As Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee refused to concede the National Democratic Alliance demand for immediate condemnation of Mr. Geelani's statement, the entire Opposition trooped out, leaving the floor open to Madhusudan Mistry (Congress) to raise the fake encounter issue practically unopposed with Left members rendering him full support. This resulted in the second adjournment of the House.

In the Rajya Sabha, BJP Members entered the well of the House as soon as the House assembled while the Telugu Desam Party, the CPI (M), the CPI and the AIADMK wanted to be heard on issues they wanted to raise.

The House was adjourned within minutes and after it assembled at noon, Deputy Chairman Rehman Khan went through the official business in the din and then adjourned the House for the day. In all, the House met for not more than 15 minutes.

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