New Delhi, July 25: The Lok Sabha witnessed another round of chaos and uproar on the fifth consecutive day on Friday and was adjourned minutes after convening. Speaker Om Birla exhorted the Opposition benches to break the impasse by discussing the issues, but his appeal went unnoticed.
Seeing no end to the slogan-shouting, the Speaker adjourned the House till 2 p.m. As the Lower House convened on Friday morning, the Parliamentarians stood together to pay respects and remember the brave heroes of Kargil.
Speaker Om Birla led the House in paying tributes to the heroes of the Kargil war as they stood in silence for about a minute and remembered their supreme sacrifice for the motherland. Kargil Vijay Diwas is celebrated every year on July 26 to observe India’s victory over Pakistan in 1999, when the security forces chased away Pakistani forces from the mountain tops of Kargil in Ladakh.
Saluting the valour of the armed forces, Speaker Om Birla said, “The nation is observing the 26th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas. Our brave forces defied all odds and operated in extremely adverse circumstances to defeat the enemy. We salute their valour and pay tributes to them who made the supreme sacrifice for the nation.”
Soon after the minute-long silence, Opposition members raised noisy protests over the Election Commission of India’s electoral rolls revision in Bihar and stormed into the well of the House. They shouted slogans and waved placards, drawing the ire of the LS Speaker, who cautioned them against placards in the House on previous occasions also.
He urged the protesting lawmakers to meet him in person to break the deadlock, while advising them that the Question Hour is for debating issues of national importance and not for slogan-shouting.
He also urged the members, both from the treasury and opposition benches, to hammer out a solution by engaging in dialogue. When the sloganeering didn’t stop, the Speaker asked the protesting lawmakers, “Don’t you want to debate in the House? Don’t you want the House to function?”
As the uproar did not stop, he adjourned the House till 2 p.m. The Congress-led Opposition has been unrelenting in its protests over Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls, which it calls an “institutionalised cleansing drive” by the ECI to benefit the ruling party.
IANS