Voice being "muzzled", say opp parties; boycott RS proceedings

Some frontline opposition parties today launched a joint offensive against the chair in Rajya Sabha, alleging their voice was being "muzzled" and boycotting the post-lunch proceedings of the Upper House.
Led by the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP, CPI-M, CPI, DMK and AAP leaders met in Parliament House and jointly sent a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu expressing their concern.
"The voice of the opposition is being muzzled outside and we do not want this to happen with the opposition parties inside the House. Which is why we wanted to raise this issue since morning and which is why we have boycotted the House for the whole day," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters.

Referring to the boycott, Naidu said his intention behind long adjournments was to promote a sense of collective responsibility among members to minimise forced disruptions.
He expressed concern over "negative public perception" that was being created by frequent disruptions, which were adversely impacting the image and credibility of the House.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is also the leader of the House, came out in defence of the Chair and accused the opposition of trying to "manufacture an issue where none existed", after they boycotted the proceedings claiming that they were not being allowed to speak.

"What opposition parties have done in Rajya Sabha is absolutely unprecedented. The Congress and some other parties have tried to manufacture an issue where none existed," he said.

Naidu said in the Rajya Sabha he was committed to allowing all members to raise any issue according to the rules and procedures and "none should have any misgiving about that".
Apparently referring to opposition leaders, he said some members had not properly understood his "concern and anguish" over the functioning of the House.
"My intention in doing so is to promote a sense of collective responsibility in minimising or doing away with such forced frequent disruptions.
"When members and parties realise that they would ultimately be the losers of such disruptions and adjournments, they would talk to each other and enable better functioning of the house," he said.

Naidu said disruptions "frequently follow a pattern", and added these were aimed at not allowing the House to function smoothly "come what may".
Azad alleged that various issues happening in the period between proceedings on two days were meant to be raised during Zero Hour, but the moment MPs got up to raise those issues the House was usually adjourned.
"The framers of rules have provided that should anything of national importance happen between the previous day and this morning, we are supposed to raise that particular issue," he said, adding they were neither intruding into Question Hour or government business.

"Unfortunately, for the last one week, we are not allowed to make use of rules," he said.
Soon after the boycott, they jointly met and wrote a letter to Naidu, alleging that the government was "murdering democracy" in the Upper House by not letting them speak.
"We have raised our concern over the way the Upper House is been run. As a first step we are writing to the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. We have said that the government is murdering democracy in the House by not letting the opposition speak," Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien told PTI.
Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 2 PM today after TMC members sought to raise issues concerning West Bengal. Yesterday, too, the House was adjourned till 2 PM after Samajwadi Party members raised slogans in the well over the alleged encounter killings by the police in Uttar Pradesh.