Ruckus created by parties from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu today paralysed proceedings in Parliament for the 12th straight day, even as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj informed both the Houses of the death of 39 missing Indians in Iraq.
The Lok Sabha was first adjourned till noon and then for the day due to the ruckus created by several protesting parties, leading Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to announce that she was unable to take up the no-confidence motion as there was no order in the House.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day within about 30 minutes since it assembled after Swaraj made a suo motu statement on the Indians killed in Iraq.
She said all the 39 Indians abducted by the ISIS terror outfit in Mosul in Iraq three years ago are dead and their bodies have been recovered.
While it was not immediately known when the Indians were killed, their bodies were recovered from Badosh - a village in northwest of Mosul, and their identities established through DNA testing, Swaraj said.
"I had said that I will not declare anyone dead without substantive proof... today I have come to fulfil that commitment. ... I had said that closure will be done with full proof. And when we will, with a heavy heart, give the mortal remains to their kin, it will be a kind of closure," she said.
Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh will travel to Iraq to bring back the mortal remains on a special plane, Swaraj said, adding the first stop on way back would be Amritsar where 31 bodies of those from Punjab and four from Himachal Pradesh would be handed over to the relatives. It will then travel to Patna and then to Kolkata.
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After she made the statement, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu termed it as "a very sad news", following which members in the Upper House stood in silence to mourn the dead.
Expressing grief over the deaths, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad sought to remind the government it had "assured us last year that the Indians were alive".
Minutes before Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day amid ruckus by Tamil and Andhra parties, the Congress hit out at the government for the stalemate saying it was not making an effort to engage with all parties to ensure that issues like banking fraud are debated in the House.
Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said they wanted the House to function and debate three pressing issues as well as the Budget and other legislative business.
While most of the opposition wanted Azad to make the statement, Tamil parties - DMK and AIADMK - as well as those from Andhra Pradesh including TDP trooped into the Well of the House shouting slogans for constitution of Cauvery Water Management Board and special status to Andhra.
Amid the din, he said 10 opposition parties including Congress, TMC, SP, BSP, DMK, NCP, CPI and CPI(M) had met this morning and agreed that the House should function.
Three major issues which are agitating the minds of people are "irregularities in banks where billions of rupees have been looted", special category status for Andhra Pradesh and Cauvery water, Azad said, adding "we want that the House functions and discussions take place on the three issues."