Kurien says own party can't browbeat him

An apparent misunderstanding went out of hand for a brief period in the Upper House on Monday with Congress parliamentarians misconstruing Rajya Chairman Chairman P J Kurien for having disallowed Leader of Opposition (LoP) Ghulam Nabi Azad to speak.

The incident, which ended in Kurien saying that he could not be “browbeaten”, unfolded during Zero Hour when Congress MP Anand Sharma’s motion to suspend the business of the day.

Sharma wanted a discussion on the controversial decision of the new Jammu and Kashmir government to release hardline separatist and Hurriyat Conference leader Masarat Alam. After the motion was rejected, the Leader of Opposition tried to settle a score with People’s Democratic Party (PDP) parliamentarian Mir Mohammad Fayaz.

The PDP parliamentarian had earlier referred to a letter by five Congress legislators on the hanging of terrorist Afzal Guru. Fayaz claimed that it was done to ensure Azad’s re-election to the Upper House.

After Finance Minister and Leader of the House Arun Jaitley said that Home Minister Rajnath Singh would later speak, Kurien rejected the motion. It was then that Azad stood up to clarify his position on Fayaz’s comments.

But Kurien, also a Congress MP, started off by saying that he could not allow anyone to speak as the motion was ruled out. Before he could add that Azad would be allowed to speak as he is to give a “personal explanation”, Congress MPs were up in arms over the fact that an LoP was being disallowed the opportunity to speak.

Congress leader K V P Ramachandra Rao walked up on the aisle in a huff, but Azad managed to restrain him from entering the Well with great difficulty. Meanwhile, Satyavrat Chaturvedi began arguing with Kurien.

As other Congress MPs also joined the protest against Kurien’s misdemeanour, he said: “Sit down. Congress members cannot browbeat me. I also know the importance of Leader of Opposition. Don’t try to do that.”

The battle of wits between Kurien and Congress MPs continued even after Azad finished his speech as they entered the Well shouting slogans against the government for not replying to the motion.