Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and other opposition MPs in the House during the Winter session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Parliament returned to normal functioning on Tuesday after six days of washout over Adani issue, Manipur and violence in Sambhal, with disruption giving way to walkouts and a protest outside the Houses.
Though the I.N.D.I.A. bloc MPs submitted notices for immediate discussion on several issues in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, they did not disrupt the proceedings, a day after the government agreed to a two-day discussion on Constitution against the backdrop of 75th anniversary of its adoption.
Two Bills – The Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024 in Lok Sabha and The Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill 2024 in Rajya Sabha – were also passed after elaborate discussions. Rajya Sabha also started discussion on The Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak, 2024.
While past five sittings saw Lok Sabha functioning for 67 minutes and Rajya Sabha for 93 minutes, the Lower House spent 442 minutes and Upper House 358 minutes on Tuesday.
The day started with a protest by Congress and other I.N.D.I.A. parties at the 'Makar Dwar' in Parliament over the Adani issue, led by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, even as Trinamool Congress remained absent from any joint Opposition action. Incidentally, senior leaders of Samajwadi Party like Akhilesh Yadav were also not present in the protest.
MPs held a banner 'Adani-Modi are one' while shouting slogans demanding action against the billionaire-industrialist. The decision to hold the protest came after a meeting of I.N.D.I.A. bloc floor leaders where Congress had put up the proposal, as it did not want to continue to disrupt the House.
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"The Modi government is unwilling to confront the grave allegations regarding Adani’s mega corruption because they are hand-in-glove in that scandal. Parliament is the forum where they must be held accountable," senior Congress MP K C Venugopal said.
Inside the House, the Opposition vociferously raised issues, including Sambhal, but stopped short of disrupting the proceedings. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed a walkout in the first hour on Sambhal.
Samajwadi Party floor leader Akhilesh Yadav raised the issue of Sambhal as soon as Lok Sabha assembled but Speaker Om Birla said the MPs could raise the issues during Zero Hour. This did not pacify the MPs, some of whom rushed to the Well of the House, and they escalated it to a walk-out with Rahul and MPs of other Opposition parties joining them.
While the Question Hour progressed, the protesting MPs returned to the House and towards the end, they once again walked out dissatisfied over Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's reply on minimum support price (MSP) in response to a question on the PM-Kisan scheme. Samajwadi Party did not join other I.N.D.I.A. MPs in this walkout.
At the start of Zero Hour, Birla warned MPs that if the business of the House is disrupted further due to adjournments, then he will have to convene the House even on Sunday to make up for the loss of time.
In Rajya Sabha, Samajwadi Party MPs led by Ramgopal Yadav, who raised the Sambhal issue, walked out of the House and were joined by Trinamool MPs.
Forty-two MPs had submitted notices -- the highest for a day in this session -- to suspend business to discuss various issues but were disallowed.