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Rajya Sabha started on a stormy note here on Tuesday as the Opposition protested and shouted slogans pushing for an adjournment motion demanding discussion of the farmers’ protests. The House which is meeting between 9 am and 2 pm in line with the Covid protocols had to be adjourned thrice before the Chairman Venkaiah Naidu called it a day around 12.30 pm.
Naidu reminded the members that the country is completing 100 years of representative democracy and appealed to the protesting members to go back to their seats and enable disruption-free functioning of the House during the Budget session. He maintained that the three farm Bills were discussed at length as per scheduled time during the last session.
He said issues on farmers can be taken up for detailed discussion during the 10-hour-long debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday. “As Chairman of this august House I can’t go into the merits of the positions taken by the agitating farmers and the Government. Both the sides have so far held several rounds of discussions and of late, expressed desire to further continue the dialogue. Neither any section in this august House nor the Government are opposed to discuss the issue of farmers campaign and related issues and its needs to be done at the earliest and it is a matter of time,” Naidu said. The House was adjourned first till 10.30 am. The Opposition members, who earlier walked out, came back and started slogan shouting during question hour. The Opposition had earlier decided to take a joint approach in the House on the farmers’ protests.
Almost all Opposition parties had given a notice under rule 267 demanding a discussion on the farmers’ protests. The Opposition leaders demanded the Centre to inform the House about the discussions with farmers. CPI(M) leader Elamaram Kareem said water and electricity supply to the protests sites has been cut by the administration and demanded immediate restoration of basic facilities. DMK leader Tiruchi Siva said farmers have been sitting on roads for over two months in the cold and the House should hold a separate discussion on it.
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