BeyondHeadlines News Desk
New Delhi: Soon after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s accusation that the Opposition is not allowing Parliament to function properly, the Opposition showed a reflex action on Tuesday and charged the government of over-ruling the Lok Sabha Speaker ruling, which is seen as breach of parliamentary norms. It accused Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal of disallowing the House to follow what Speaker Meira Kumar had permitted.
When Lok Sabha met at 11 am, the Speaker informed the House that suspension of Question Hour notices had been given by Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta and JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav among others. They wanted an immediate debate on the detention of Hazare and on the larger issue of corruption.
The Speaker disallowed the notices for adjournment motion, on Hazare, but she mentioned that those who given the notices will be allowed to “briefly touch upon the subject (Hazare).”
However, when Swaraj rose to speak, Bansal intervened saying, “My submission is that the government is prepared for a discussion at 12 (noon). They make their point and then the House is disrupted…” He insisted that if Swaraj speaks, the home minister should be allowed to make a statement. Both sides erupted at that.
Swaraj was unhappy for being disallowed to speak even though Bansal had promised that she could do so at noon. She alleged that Bansal was defying the speaker by not allowing her to speak. “The undemocratic attitude adopted by the government outside the House is being adopted inside as well,” she said. Senior BJP leader L K Advani went to the Speaker’s chamber for the first time during Kumar’s tenure, to protest against this situation, along with party MP Yashwant Sinha.
In the din, the Speaker allowed a short duration discussion on Sri Lankan Tamils, which of course could not take place, even as DMK leader T R Baalu initiated it, because of the disruption.
