Govt says ready for debate on Delhi violence after Holi

Both houses of Parliament were adjourned prematurely for the second day on Tuesday following a war of words between the treasury benches and the Opposition, which

Both houses of Parliament were adjourned prematurely for the second day on Tuesday following a war of words between the treasury benches and the Opposition, which reiterated its demand for a discussion on last week’s communal violence in Delhi.

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The government agreed to the demand but maintained that the chairs of both the houses will decide the timing of the debate.

Before the two houses assembled for the day, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla called an all-party meeting to break the deadlock.

In the meeting, floor managers of the ruling coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), said the government was ready for a debate on the Delhi violence on March 11, after Holi. Opposition leaders insisted on immediate discussion.

As soon as the Lok Sabha met for the third time in the day at 2 pm, the speaker informed the House that the discussion on the Delhi violence, which left 47 people dead and hundreds injured, would take place on March 11, but opposition members stormed the well of the House, demanding an immediate debate.

As tempers in the House rose, Birla warned that members of both the opposition and treasury benches, who cross over to the other side during any uproar, will be suspended for the entire session.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury walked over to the Well near the treasury benches, leading to a commotion between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition members.

As the BJP and Congress members tried to shove each other, the Speaker adjourned the House for the day.

Amid the din, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced a bill to provide more powers to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for regulating cooperative banks. The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which comes in the backdrop of a scam at the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank, seeks to strengthen cooperative banks by increasing professionalism, enabling access to capital, improving governance and ensuring sound banking.

Sitharaman maintained that the bill was the “need of the hour” to avoid a repeat of the crisis at PMC Bank. She said the happenings at the PMC Bank had “unfortunately” put a lot of small depositors in difficulty as a result of which there were demands that the government do something about it.

In the Rajya Sabha, as soon as Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu called the name of minister of state for finance Anurag Thakur to lay present papers related to the legislation in the House, opposition members were on their feet objecting to the remarks he had allegedly made during the Delhi elections.

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said it would appear strange if Parliament did not discuss the incidents of violence in Delhi when the whole world was talking about it.

Referring to the violence, Azad said irrespective of religion, 90% of those who lost their lives belonged to the age group of 24 to 35 years, which was a huge loss to the nation.

The discussion should aim at ensuring such incidents do not recur, he added. Leader of the House Thawar Chand Gehlot said the government was ready for a discussion on the issue at a timing ascertained by the chairman.

Congress leader Anand Sharma said that as the leader of the house and the leader of opposition were of the same view, the discussion should be scheduled for 11 am on Wednesday.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi also attacked the BJP. “It’s strange. The government said it will discuss the Delhi situation once things normalised,” he said.

“This is a fake, manufactured and spurious reason to escape the discussion. A few regional parties also agreed to it. Are parliamentarians so irresponsible that they will aggravate the matter and not help with solutions,” Singhvi added.

“We are sad that some regional parties from Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have appeared to have swallowed this spurious explanation or may be they are not so innocent,” he said, in an apparent reference to the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

BJP leader Bhupendra Choubey said the chair should not be forced to hold the discussion at a particular time and the decision on when to schedule the debate should be left to his discretion.

Deputy chairman Harivansh said the timing of the discussion could only be decided after consulting the Chairman. Amid uproar, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day.