Opp marches towards treasury benches; LS adjourns ahead of PM Modi’s speech

NEW DELHI, Feb 4: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday witnessed dramatic scenes as women MPs from the opposition marched towards the Treasury benches holding banners ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled reply to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address.
The prime minister was not present in the House and BJP member PP Chaudhary was making his remarks when the opposition members trooped into the Well of the House and made their way to the Treasury benches protesting against the trade deal with the US and former Army Chief M M Naravane’s unpublished book.
The Lok Sabha has witnessed stormy protests by the opposition members over Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s insistence on referring to the ‘unpublished’ book of Naravane, which was strongly opposed by senior ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah.
When the House re-assembled at 2 PM, BJP member Nishikant Dubey raked up a fresh controversy by referring to books such as “Edwina and Nehru” and “Mitrokhin Archive” among others and made certain remarks targeting former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
As Dubey kept listing books and what they said about various members of the Gandhi family, TDP member Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was in the chair, said he cannot allow this as the Speaker had already given a ruling, disallowing such comments.
Tenneti cited Rule 349 to not make such remarks.
Rule 349 bars members from reading from any book, newspaper or letter except in connection with the business of the House.
Dubey’s remarks angered the Congress and other opposition members who charged towards him, leading to the adjournment of the House till 5:00 PM.
After the House was adjourned, Congress MPs met Speaker Om Birla to protest the Chair’s decision to allow Dubey to speak quoting from books, contending that the Leader of the Opposition had been denied such an opportunity.
The House had already witnessed three adjournments on Wednesday – at 11 AM, 12 noon and 2 PM – over the former Army chief’s book and the India-US trade deal. Government floor managers had indicated that the prime minister would reply to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks at 5:00 PM.
Opposition members were demanding suspension of Dubey from the House for his remarks.
The Lok Sabha witnessed stormy scenes when it re-assembled at 5:00 p.m. and women MPs from the opposition ranks led by Congress member Varsha Gaikwad protested against Dubey and marched towards the prime minister’s chair.
BJP member Sandhya Rai, who was in the chair, adjourned the proceedings for the day. (PTI)