New Delhi, The Opposition will boycott the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday and stage a protest against suspension of 12 MPs in the Upper House, after it was adjourned for the day on Tuesday over the demand of their re-instatement.
Communist Party of India MP Binoy Viswam, one of the leaders who was suspended, said all opposition leaders in the Rajya Sabha will boycott the House for the day on Wednesday, and sit on a protest with the suspended MPs.
Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said the opposition MPs would sit on a day-long protest against the suspension, which he said, was against the Rules.
He also urged the opposition MPs from Lok Sabha to join the protest. Blaming the government for deadlock in Rajya Sabha, Kharge said the Opposition protests will continue.
"The government is responsible for the deadlock in Rajya Sabha. We met the Leader of the House and Chairman and said the suspension was not as per the rules," Kharge said.
The Opposition has said that the suspension, which has been done under Rule 256 was wrong, as the rule specified that a member can be suspended "for a period not exceeding the remainder of the Session". Opposition leaders have said that since the Monsoon Session is over, suspension of MPs is in violation of the rule.
"When the House is prorogued, the government has no right to suspend members for the previous session," he said.
"This suspension is undemocratic. We have requested the Chairman to protect our rights as members of the House. Is he also under government's pressure?" Kharge said.
He said the Opposition wants to raise several issues, like the Nagaland incident and price rise.
"The government does not want the House to function," he said, adding that the Opposition would continue its fight.
No work could be done in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday also, as both the ruling party and the opposition stuck to their stand on the suspension of opposition members. After two adjournments, the proceedings had to be adjourned for the day.
After the second adjournment, Deputy Chairman Harivansh started the proceedings of the House, asking Health and Family Welfare Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to introduce the Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill 2021 and Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2020.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that the government does not want to pass any bill amid the ruckus and urged the opposition members to apologise for their conduct, so that the suspension could be withdrawn.
Leader of Opposition in the House Malikarjun Kharge and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh strongly opposed the request to apologise. Simultaneously, leaders of Aam Aadmi Party, Congress, Trinamool Congress and some other opposition parties came near the seat and started raising slogans.
The Deputy Chairman asked John Brittas of the CPI(M) to move his amendment before starting the discussion on the bill. On receiving no response from the member, he asked Mandaviya to make his point on the Bill.
In the midst of sloganeering and uproar, Mandaviya made his point and after this, the Deputy Chairman called upon Dr Kanimozhi of DMK to initiate the discussion on the Bill.
The DMK member asked the government to withdraw the suspension of 12 opposition members and said, "How can I keep my point, when there is chaos in the House?"
Earlier, Manoj Jha of Rashtriya Janata Dal wanted to raise the question of order, but the Deputy Chairman denied saying it should be related to the Bill itself.
The Deputy Chairman continued the discussion on the Bill amidst the uproar and asked Mamata of Biju Janata Dal to make her point. She continued with her views on the bill.
The Deputy Speaker, after this, once again requested the members to return to their places and maintain peace in the House, however, the request did not work and he adjourned the proceedings of the House for the day.
Earlier also, the proceedings of the House were adjourned twice on the same issue.
The proceedings were continuously disrupted and no concrete legislative business could be done on both days of this week because of the heavy uproar in the House by the opposition members over the suspension of MPs.
The suspended MPs include Elamaram Kareem, CPI (M), Phulo Devi Netam (INC), Chhaya Verma (INC), Ripun Bora (INC), Binoy Viswam (CPI), Rajmani Patel (INC), Dola Sen (TMC), Shanta Chhetri (AITC), Syed Nasir Hussain (INC), Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena), Anil Desai (Shiv Sena) and Akhilesh Prasad Singh (INC).