E-Paper
Opposition MPs proud of their unruly conduct in Parliament, says Goyal
These Union ministers were also joined by minister for minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, minister for education Dharmendra Pradhan and newly inducted Union minister Bhupender Yadav all of whom claimed that the Opposition was adamant of continuing with their behaviour.
Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Anurag Thakur and parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi condemned the behaviour of MPs from the Opposition parties even as they said the parliamentarians ‘refused’ to apologise for what the ‘ruckus’ they caused in the House.
These Union ministers were also joined by minister for minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, minister for education Dharmendra Pradhan and newly inducted Union minister Bhupender Yadav all of whom claimed that the Opposition was adamant of continuing with their behaviour.
“Forget about apologising, when asked the MPs said they would do the same thing again, multiple times if required. The MPs from Congress, Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party have set a new low with this behaviour. Their actions have lowered the respect people have for the Parliament,” Goyal said during the press conference.
Congress hits out at govt over ‘manhandling’ of women lawmakers in Rajya Sabha
Goyal blamed the Congress for the ‘ruckus’ and said their actions are condemnable as he demanded strict action be taken against the MPs. He said that the tables and chairs in the Parliament are not kept for ‘protesting by standing on top of them’ and ‘rule books are to be studied and referred to and not hurled at the Chair’.
‘Not comparing but this was exceptional’: Joshi
Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said this was not the first time that Parliament saw ruckus over issues but termed the behaviour by the Opposition MPs on Wednesday ‘unbelievable’. Joshi said the Opposition should refrain from saying that the government passed bills in a hurry.
“Between 2004 and 2014, one can see how many bills were passed amid din. At that time, discussions with the Opposition were not properly held. I was impaired that time and even an important bill like bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh was passed amid din. We talked with them daily regarding discussing important bills but they are denying it now. They tried to forcibly enter by breaking the glass,” Joshi said.
Goyal criticises Pawar
Union minister Piyush Goyal said that he respects the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar even as he claimed that the senior leader was misinformed about Wednesday’s incident. The minister said that before levelling allegations against the marshals and claiming that outsiders were brought into the Parliament and women MPs were attacked, Sharad Pawar should first take into cognisance that Opposition MPs themselves tweeted the videos where they were seen being unruly. “Did he see the videos tweeted by the Opposition leaders who were proud of their conduct? Rulebooks were hurled at the Chair. God forbid that no one got hurt,” Goyal said. Goyal was responding to Sharad Pawar’s allegations where he said that outsiders misbehaved and hurt women MPs.
Women MPs accuse marshals of pushing them around in Rajya Sabha
Congress writes to Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairperson Naidu
Following Sharad Pawar’s allegation, the Congress and other Opposition parties also wrote to Rajya Sabha chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu that women MPs were subjected to ‘unacceptable (use of) force’.
“A very large number of security personnel, who were not part of the regular ... watch and ward staff of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat were deployed. They used unacceptable force and physically manhandled Members of Parliament, including women members,” Kharge wrote in his letter which was also signed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) Tiruchi Siva and Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut among others.
Addressing a press conference earlier in the day, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said that for the first time MPs were ‘assaulted’ inside the House while the BJP ministers while addressing the media separately said that the Opposition MPs should apologise and strict action will be taken after thorough investigation into what happened earlier this week.
