It was all disruption and no debate on the 10th day of the monsoon session of Parliament. Question Hour in both houses was adjourned almost as soon as it started, following sloganeering and protests by opposition MPs over police action against farmers in Pune yesterday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later held a meeting with Congress leaders to discuss how the logjam could be broken.
The Bharatiya Janata Party also protested against the police action on the party’s demonstration in Delhi yesterday. Party leader L K Advani stopped just short of saying that Union home minister P Chidambaram was responsible for the lathi charge; law and order in Delhi is handled by the home ministry. Advani followed up the matter at a meeting with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, at which Chidambaram and parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal were present.
Even after it resumed later in the day, Parliament did not function. Both houses were adjourned for the day by the afternoon. Question Hour has been the biggest casualty in both houses -- 140 oral questions were to have been asked and answered this week in each house, PRS Legislative Research said. However, in the Lok Sabha, only 14 questions could be answered orally; in the Rajya Sabha, the number was 18.
Of the 32 bills listed for introduction at the beginning of the session, five have been introduced. Of the 35 Bills listed for passing, none have been.
Speaking to reporters later, Bansal said he was at a loss to understand what assurances the opposition needed to allow Parliament to function. "The Opposition is not letting Parliament run and on the most frivolous grounds. Parliament must run and transact the business," he said. "We appeal to the opposition, Don't stall the House. Don't make it a regular practice. We have had enough of it. If there is a reason, please tell us; we will address those reasons."
Asked whether the government was planning to shorten the session, Bansal said, "There is no question (of doing so) at the moment."
Slamming the BJP for creating a ruckus in Parliament over the city police baton charge against their workers, Bansal said the ruling party can "point out a large number of instances during the seven-year rule of the (BJP-led) NDA when there were lathicharges at different parts of the country”.
