Parliament standoff continues; Both Houses adjourned amid rucks over Adani, Rahul issues

NEW DELHI, MARCH 23: Both houses of the Indian Parliament were once again adjourned till 2 pm on Thursday after lawmakers from the ruling BJP and Opposition parties engaged in sloganeering over the Adani issue and Rahul Gandhi’s democracy remarks in London.

The Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned amid sloganeering by the Congress and BJP members. As soon as the House assembled for the day after obituary references, Congress members demanded that Gandhi should be allowed to speak in the House. They also demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into alleged stock manipulation by the Adani Group.

Members of treasury benches raised counter-slogans from their seats, demanding an apology from Gandhi for his remarks. The turmoil continued for about about 10 minutes with Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla urging the members to allow the House to function normally.

“I will give you the opportunity to speak after the Question Hour. I have never stopped anyone from speaking. But that has to be within rules,”  he said.

However, the opposition members ignored the speaker’s pleas and continued their protests.

“The country wants the House to function normally. People want their issues to be raised in the House. If you don’t want the House not to function properly, then I will adjourn it,” Birla said and adjourned the House till 2 pm.

Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned after MPs from both sides shouted slogans in support of their demands, prompting Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to adjourn the proceedings till 2 pm. Earlier, Dhankhar rejected 12 notices under rule 267 that sought a discussion on the allegations against Adani by setting aside the business of the day.

While Leader of the House and Union Minister Piyush Goyal said the nation was concerned about remarks made by Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge raised the failure of the government to constitute a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe allegations against Adani.

During his interactions in London, Gandhi had alleged that the structures of Indian democracy are under attack and there is a “full-scale assault” on the country’s institutions. The remarks triggered a political slugfest, with the BJP accusing him of maligning India on foreign soil and seeking foreign interventions, and the Congress hit back at the ruling party by citing instances of Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising internal politics abroad.

The ruling alliance also sought an apology from Gandhi while the Congress demanded that he should be allowed to speak in the House to clarify his position.

-PTI