Colour code

The passage of the mines and minerals amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha generated considerable heat in the House at the discussion stage. The mood, however, was a lot lighter when it came up for voting. As the amendments moved by the Opposition came up for vote, the Treasury bench goaded the Opposition Left MPs to adhere to their Marxist leaning and press the 'red' button (indicating a no). P Rajeev of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) then drew attention to his 'green' kurta sleeve indicating the party would probably press the 'green' (yes) button. Finally, when it was time to vote, the Opposition members who had clearly been outnumbered, advised the ruling party MPs to "press red". The Treasury bench, expectedly, did not oblige.