Rajya Sabha adjourned amid uproar over BJP MP's comment

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day following an uproar by opposition parties over a comment made by a ruling BJP member, who said some opposition parties were using incomparable data on employment as a "statistical Shaheen Bagh".

Participating in a debate on the employment situation in the country, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member G V L Narasimha Rao said some opposition parties were using leaked NSO data to say the country's unemployment rate had fallen to a 45-year low.

According to Rao, the current data and earlier data on the country's employment situation were not comparable.

He said the opposition "latched onto it" as it gave them a great headline.

"It is a statistical Shaheen Bagh," Rao said, while alleging that opposition parties were using it as a political propaganda and misleading the people of the country.

As soon as he said "statistical Shaheen Bagh", in an apparent reference to the ongoing protest at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh against the new citizenship law, Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) Manoj Kumar Jha raised a point of order.

As the opposition and treasury bench members engaged in a war of words, Union minister Giriraj Singh made a comment, which could not be heard due to the uproar.

Soon opposition members, including from the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and RJD, trooped into the Well of the House raising slogans.

As repeated efforts to restore order did not yield any results, the Chair adjourned the House for the day.