Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2 pm over JNU protests

Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 2 pm on Tuesday following protests by Left MPs who wanted to raise the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and police action against students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

As soon as official papers were laid on the table, Chairman Mao Venkaiah Naidu said he has disallowed the notices submitted by the MPs, prompting the MPs to rise in protest.

CPI(M) MP Elamarom Kareem had submitted a notice to suspend the business of the House to discuss the situation in Kashmir. CPI MP Binoy Vishwam and CPI(M) lawmaker KK Ragesh also gave a similar notice asking for a discussion on the police lathicharge on JNU students protesting hostel fee hike.

As MPs persisted with their demand and got support from other parties, Naidu said, "I will not allow this. This is not a matter to suspend the business and discuss." Soon after, he adjourned the House till 2 pm.

Opposition MPs were critical of the sudden adjournment of the House. A CPI(M) MP said, "He should have allowed us to speak for a couple of minutes."

In a statement, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien said that not a single MP from Opposition went into the Well of the Rajya Sabha and yet the House was adjourned within minutes right till 2 pm. "Opposition is deprived of raising important issues in Zero Hour and holding ministers accountable in Question Hour. When the government doesn’t have answers, you run away," he said.

"Here are four good reasons why the government ran away from Rajya Sabha today and adjourned Zero Hour and Question Hour. First four questions in Question Hour were to be answered by Finance Minister on 1) Hoarding notes after demonetization 2) PMC Bank fraud 3) Public Sector Banks fraud and 4) PSU's disinvestment," he added.