Speaker, Chairman criticise Opposition’s stir as logjam continues

The Opposition’s insistence on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on Manipur is “constitutionally ill-premised”, Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Tuesday, even as Opposition members continued their protests over the key demand.

In the Lok Sabha, speaker Om Birla criticised constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, which has disrupted Parliament’s monsoon session, demanding Modi speak on the violence in Manipur inside the House.

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In the House, Birla repeatedly told MPs that if they maintain order, they will get sufficient opportunity to speak. “Tomorrow, all of you will get enough time and opportunities to speak in this House. But you have run the House peacefully.” Minutes later, he cautioned Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi “to use the correct expressions while speaking”.

The lawmakers in the Upper House “are becoming a subject of ridicule by the public at large”, Dhankhar said. The Opposition’s insistence for discussion under a specific rule (Rule 267) and not allowing a short discussion on the Manipur issue is akin to “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”, the vice-president said.

Arguing that the Union cabinet runs on the principle of collective responsibility, Dhankhar cited a 2014 instance when then lawmaker Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) insisted on the Prime Minister’s presence in the House, but the chair had “determined” that the demand was “ill-premised”.

The Rajya Sabha chairman also maintained that the disruptions for eight days are setting a “dangerous precedent”.

The Opposition, which moved 60 notices of adjournment, defended their move. “Under Rule 267, we have been trying to raise the issue of Manipur for 11 consecutive days. The Manipur situation is not a small incident,” said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. “We want the Prime Minister to come to the House and express his views because it is not just the question of the home minister.”

Congress chief whip Jairam Ramesh referred to past instances of the 2002 Gujarat riots. “Those questioning the demand of INDIA parties for a statement by the Prime Minister on Manipur in the Rajya Sabha to be followed by a discussion should recall what had happened in May 2002 in the very same House,” he said.

Ramesh proceeded to detail how on May 6, 2002, the Rajya Sabha had a discussion a motion to “expresses its deep sense of anguish on the persistence of violence in Gujarat for over six weeks, leading to the loss of a large number of persons, destruction of property worth crores of rupees and urges the central government to intervene effectively under Article 355 of the Constitution to protect the lives and properties of the citizens and to provide effective relief and rehabilitation to the victims of violence.”

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The same day when Manmohan Singh, then leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, spoke on the motion, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke on the issue, Ramesh said.

Pointing out that the lawmakers by their actions “have plunged this institution into virtual irrelevance”, Dhankhar said he held discussions with floor leaders of various parties on Monday and suggested that more time could be allocated for the discussion on Manipur so that everyone gets a chance to express their views.