The seventh day of monsoon session of the Parliament was chaotic and saw violent actions, insulting the chair in the upper house, Rajya Sabha. Lok Sabha proceedings continued late, post midnight.
Rajya Sabha session had nearly ended when Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar began his reply to the debate on the Centre’s farm bills. Soon, leaders of the Opposition began protesting against the legislation, and leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad urged the Chair to adjourn the house and continue proceedings on Monday. The bills being discussed were The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020.
A voice vote negated four Opposition-sponsored motions to send the two bills to a House panel for greater scrutiny, but the protesting MPs of the Congress, CPM, TMC and DMK sought a division of vote on the issue. Sanjay Singh of Aam Admi Party and Jairam Ramesh of Congress were seen among those protesting. After the voting on amendments began, TMC MP Derek O’Brien took the Rajya Sabha rulebook to deputy chairperson Harivansh Narayan Singh a few members even tore official papers and even broke the Chair’s mic. A book was also also flung towards Harivansh.
The proceedings had to be adjourned for 15 minutes and Opposition parties continued to chant slogans even as the voice vote approved the bill. Both the bills were passed by voice vote and amendments moved by the Opposition parties were rejected. The opposition blamed the deputy chairperson of functioning against the rules.
The bill will now be sent to President Ram Nath Kovind for approval. Union Home Minister Amit Shah hailed the development and said, “Passage of these bills reflects PM Modi ji’s unwavering resolve towards the overall development of our farmers and strengthening of the agriculture sector. People who kept farmers in darkness and poverty for decades by indulging in vote bank politics are today again trying to provoke & mislead them by opposing this historic decision. I want to assure my farmer brothers that if anyone thinks of their best interests, it is PM Modi.”
Critisising the bills, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called them “death warrants” against farmers “The farmers grow gold from land, but the arrogance of the Modi government is making farmers shed tears of blood. Democracy has been shamed by the manner in which the government passed death warrants against farmers in the form of two farm bills in Rajya Sabha,” Gandhi tweeted.
After the conclusion of the Upper House’s session, twelve Opposition parties gave a notice for a no-confidence motion against Harivansh over the manner in which the bills were passed.
In the Lok Sabha, Conhgress MP Shashi Tharoor claimed India has become a “poster child of the worst case scenario of the ongoing pandemic”. Describing the troubles migrants have been facing, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said, “After the announcement of lockdown, Mumbai streets saw more people than number of people who would have come to streets post-Partition. But the govt did not start trains. People were mowed down by (goods) trains on railway tracks. Somewhere, we made mistakes.”
The Lok Sabha also passed the Rashtriya Raksha University Bill 2020, The Bilateral Netting Qualified Financial Contracts Bill, 2020 National Forensic Science University Bill 2020.
Nishikant Dubey of Jharkhand also raised the issue of drug abuse rampant in the society. He said that even as Sushant Singh Rajput’s death is being probed into -whether it was a murder or suicide – and people are talking about drug abuse in Bollywood. He urged that the NCB should be stricter with schools and colleges as well, where drugs are often found. Dubey also urged the government to ban filmmakers from going abroad for shooting and provide locations and facilities for them to make their film inside the country itself.
BJP’s MP Ravi Kishan also spoke towards the end of the day’s session and urged the government to bring a law that would curtail anyone from asking for sexual favours from women. He said, “We are a country that worships our daughters, we worship Durga and the cow. It is shameful that a big director in this country could tell a young girl that he’d make his life if she compromises with him. Why should our daughters compromise?”