Monsoon session: RS defers passage of bill for banning funding of WMD

Rajya Sabha on Thursday deferred till July 25 the passage of a bill that seeks to ban funding of weapons of mass destruction so that opposition members can participate in the discussion on the draft law.

Bhubaneswar Kalita, who was in the Chair, accepted the request of Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan for deferring the passage of The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022.

When the House resumed in the afternoon, the opposition members demanded discussion on the issue of price rise under Rule 267. When the Chair did not accept their demand, a large number of the opposition members walked out.

After the completion of the discussion, Muraleedharan pleaded, "This is a very important bill. This concerns the security, global security... all these aspects. Government would like to have this bill passed with the participation of the opposition also. But unfortunately the opposition also is absent today. I would suggest that if we wait for a day or two and if the opposition is ready to come back and participate in the discussion, we can take up this bill and keep it in abeyance for a day and have it on Monday again when we meet and continue the discussion and then pass the bill accordingly."

After the minister's request, the chair said, "It sounds better."

Thereafter the Chair called NCP's Vandana Chavan to lay papers listed against her name. After she did so, the Chair adjourned the House for the day.

Earlier participating in the discussion, Prashant Nanda (BJD), M Thambidurai (AIADMK), Ayodhya Rami Reddy Alla (YSRCP), Manoj Kumar Jha (RJD), K Ravindra Kumar (TDP), Ram Nath Thakur (JDU) and Prakash Javadekar (BJP) supported the bill.

However, DMK's P Wilson, who started the debate in the afternoon, said price rise is weapon of mass destruction in this country.

The chair asked Wilson to speak on the bill and called the next speaker.

During the discussion, Javadkar attacked the opposition and termed them as weapon of mass disruption.

He said, "Whatever we are seeing for the past four days, is called weapon of mass disruption...this is negative politics...They(opposition) dont discuss (the bill) and run away (from discussing the bill)."

Earlier RJD member Manoj Kumar Jha pointed out about 'weapon of mass disruption', referring to the deteriorating social fabric in the country.

Jha had demanded to bring a bill on weapon of mass disruption.

The bill which seeks to ban funding of weapons of mass destruction and also empower the Centre to freeze, seize or attach financial assets and economic resources of people engaged in such activities was passed by Lok Sabha on April 6.