Government today asked the Opposition in Rajya Sabha to "honestly" say whether they wanted a debate on demonetisation and asked them not to impose "unreasonable and impossible" conditions, as the proceedings were disrupted amid unabated noisy protests on the issue.
As the House reassembled at 2 PM after two adjournments, Leader of the House Arun Jaitley said the government has already made it clear it was ready for a debate and the Prime Minister will make an intervention. He said he would himself sit through and reply to questions raised by them.
"If the opposition wants a debate, it should honestly tell whether they want it or not. Let them not impose unreasonable and impossible conditions for the debate," he said, accusing the opposition of raising "unrealistic demands" which has never been the practice in the House.
"Now you have started raising conditions which has never been raised in history of this House. It has never happened. There is no practice in the House, not a single practice that a member says that when he speaks the Prime Minister should be in the House.
"You have a right to presume that you have importance yourself. But there is no such precedence in the House since 1952 that the Prime Minister must be here to listen to every member. Otherwise, the Prime Minister has many responsibilities," Jaitley said.
He was responding to the persistent demands by the Opposition seeking the presence of Modi in the House as a condition to resume the unfinished debate on demonetisation, with CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury saying there has been such precedents when erstwhile Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sat through the debates on 2G and coal scams in the House.
Jaitley said the Government and the Council of Ministers functioned under the principle of collective responsibility and there was no principle that a particular person has to answer the questions raised.
This did not satisfy the Opposition members who raised an uproar. With Deputy Chairman P J Kurien calling for the Disabilities Bill be taken up while agreeing with the demand raised by Social Justice Minister Thawarchand Gehlot, opposition members including those from Congress and TMC started raising slogans and trooped into the Well.
The slogans were countered by BJP members too. While Opposition was seeking Prime Minister's presence, the members of treasury benches called for the functioning of the House and the debate to resume. Amid the pandemonium, Kurien adjourned the House for the day.
Earlier, the House was adjourned twice, once till noon and then till 1400 hours, with both Zero Hour and Question Hour falling prey to the Opposition ruckus.
Earlier some opposition members including Yechury
(CPI-M), Naresh Agrawal (SP) and Anand Sharma (Cong) asserted that there were precedents in the House when during debates on 2G Spectrum and coal scams, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sat through the entire debate.
This demand was rejected by Jaitley saying there is no such practice that the Prime Minister should hear out each and every member when they spoke.
Raising a point of order, Pramod Tiwari (Cong) said the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and the Council of Ministers should be disqualified under Rule 102-C as they have failed to honour the currency notes which were legal tenders.
Raising the issue, Tiwari said the government had turned into a "pauper" as it has failed to honour the legal tender.
"If they cannot give our money to us, they should resign from the House...This government has turned a pauper. This government is not worth being in power. They should all resign. The Council of Ministers, Prime Minister and Finance Minister should be disqualified under Rule 102-C," he said.
Kurien had a hearty laughter and said "that is no point of order. What he raised is a point of disorder."
Many opposition members raised the point demanding the presence of the Prime Minister in the House. Among those raising the issue included Congress leader Anand Sharma, Tiruchi Siva (DMK), K Keshava Rao (TRS) and Yechury, but their demand did not find favour with the Chair.
"I am hearing it for last one week that the PM should be here. Under what Rule? You can only request the Prime Minister. To make it a condition is not proper," he said.
But slogan-shouting from the aisles by BJP members and their Opposition counterparts, many of whom were protesting in the Well, led Kurien to adjourn the House for the day.
Earlier, the issue of demonetisation of old 500 and 1000 rupee notes continued to rock the Rajya Sabha today virtually washing out its proceedings.
Both the Zero Hour and the Question Hour were disrupted as members of the Treasury and Opposition benches resorted to sloganeering over the issue leading Deputy Chairman P J Kurien to adjourn the proceedings till noon. Similar scenes were witnessed at noon forcing Chairman Hamid Ansari to adjourn the House again till 1400 hours.
While Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad wanted to know who was responsible for the death of at least 84 persons in hardships caused due to "unplanned" demonetisation, other opposition leaders like Mayawati (BSP) and Naresh Agarwal (SP) wanted Modi to apologise for putting the common man to hardship.
Jaitley blamed the Opposition for using the tactics of disruption on a daily basis rather than resuming the discussion started on the first day of the winter session on November 16 which is yet to conclude.
