Disruptions over price rise continue to affect proceedings in Parliament

Moments after proceedings started on the second day of the monsoon session, both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha were adjourned till 2pm amid sloganeering by opposition leaders. “As per rules, it is not allowed to bring placards inside the House,” Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla said.

Parliament was adjourned on the second day of the monsoon session without much business being conducted on Tuesday as the opposition continued to demand discussions in both Houses on high inflation and a new tax on household essentials.

Opposition MPs holding placards stage a protest over inflation, 5% GST on essential items and other issues in the Well of Lok Sabha during the Monsoon Session of Parliament. (ANI)

Opposition leaders staged a protest in the Parliament complex against inflation and the tax hike. Besides Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, opposition members including Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena were present at the protest held in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in the Parliament complex.

“The imposition of 5% GST (goods and services tax) on curd, paneer and other commodities of daily use will hurt the common people,” said Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha. “We will protest inside the House also.”

The opposition also demanded that the government should cancel the recent hike in cooking gas prices.

Retail inflation has been higher than 6%, the upper tolerance limit of the Reserve Bank of India, for the past six months till June, hurting household budgets.

Moments after proceedings started on the second day of the monsoon session, both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha were adjourned till 2pm amid sloganeering by opposition leaders. “As per rules, it is not allowed to bring placards inside the House,” Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla said.

“We wanted to debate on the matters related to inflation. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, along with other leaders of like-minded parties, issued a notice under Rule 267 (of the Rajya Sabha), but our requests were not heard,” said Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil.

Ahead of the start of the monsoon session on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to all political leaders to cooperate for a “fruitful” session.

“We always consider the House an efficient medium of dialogue, a pilgrimage place. Where there is a dialogue with an open mind, there are fierce debates, if needed, there is also criticism and by very good analysis of things, a very positive contribution can be made to policies and decisions,” Modi had said.