Uproar continues in House as Oppn demands demonetisation probe
When the House assembled again for Zero Hour, the opposition again pressed for moving an adjournment motion. But the Speaker rejected all the notices.
A standoff between the government and the opposition over the scrapping of high value currency notes looks set to drag on, threatening the winter session of Parliament where important bills including laws that enable India’s biggest tax reform, the goods and services tax (GST), are pending.
Opposition parties have decided to not let Rajya Sabha function till the government agrees to a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) investigation into the decision to scrap `500 and `1,000 banknotes, a demand unlikely to be accepted since “the opposition will project it as an admission of guilt”, an NDA minister said.
“They (the government) will have to agree to a JPC. The House (Rajya Sabha) will run if they accept it,” deputy leader of opposition Anand Sharma told HT on Friday.
Parliament was paralysed for the second straight day as the two sides traded barbs over the fallout and implications of the decision to ban the notes.
Read | Face-off between govt, Opposition over cash chaos hits Parliament on Day 3
“Our demand will not be limited to the winter session,” Sharma said.
Members in the opposition say the government tipped off “friends of the (ruling) BJP” before it announced the scrapping of notes.
The Congress’ insistence on a JPC is driven by its belief that it would be able to unearth evidence about the beneficiaries of the alleged “leak” of demonetisation decision in advance.
The Upper House on Friday saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad in the crosshairs of each other’s camps that alternatively chanted, “pradhan mantri mafi mango” (PM must apologise) and “Congress mafi mango” (Congress must apologise).
The BJP demanded an apology from Azad for comparing the death of people in queues outside banks and ATMs with those killed in Uri terror attack. The leader of the opposition told reporters that it’s the BJP that should apologise to the entire nation.
Union minister Venkaiah Naidu said the Congress and its allies were shying away from a debate as the poor look at the Prime Minister as “messiah” after the demonetisation decision.