Parliaments main porch witnessed dramatic scenes on Tuesday as MPs belonging to Kerala and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) crowded the entrance shouting slogans and brandishing banners to draw attention to their concerns. The heart of the issues; Rubber procurement prices and firing on Dalits in Maharashtra, respectively.
The Kerala MPs want the procurement price of rubber raised immediately. Among them were Vayalar Ravi (Congress) and M A Baby (Communist Party of India-Marxist). Baby later claimed that 20 of the 29 MPs from Kerala in both houses had joined the demonstration. Rajya Sabha Congress member Pranab Mukherjee supported the demand.
They said this was the only way to save the rubber farmers of their state, which produces about 90 per cent of the countrys rubber. In Kerala, prices have climbed down from Rs 70 per kg a year ago to about Rs 33 per kg now, Baby said.
RJD MPs sloganeered in favour of Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and demanded the dismissal of the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra. They entered Parliament shouting Desh ka neta kaisa ho, Laloo Yadav jaisa ho (The nations leader should be one like Laloo Yadav.)
Union ministers J P Nishad and Kanti Singh joined the slogan-shouting brigade, which included MAA Fatmi, Ram Kripal Yadav and Naresh Yadav.
