Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan on Thursday asked the Centre to consider the Opposition’s request that Union Home Minister Amit Shah be present in the House.
Speaking to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, Radhakrishnan said: “You can echo the sentiments of the Opposition to the home minister.”
The Opposition has been demanding that Shah attend Parliament during the Monsoon Session for a discussion on the crackdown on youth protesters in Delhi on July 20.
The Opposition leaders have said that the home minister should make a statement about the use of excessive force by security personnel.
The Delhi Police and the Central Armed Police Forces report to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
As the session began on Thursday, Opposition MPs shouted slogans: “Amit Shah must answer, come to the House.”
Responding to the sloganeering, Rijiju mentioned two parliamentary rules – 235, which is about seeking to end the Opposition’s interruptions, and 240, on irrelevance or repetition in member’s speeches.
He alleged that Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House Mallikarjun Kharge had been repeating the same remarks every day.
Radhakrishnan allowed Kharge to respond, but members of the treasury benches protested, leading to the House being adjourned.
When the proceedings resumed during Question Hour, Kharge said he did not need to learn the rules of the House from Rijiju.
“In this House, [Arun] Jaitley ji said disruption is a part and parcel of democracy,” said the Congress leader. “You can raise questions which are relevant to the proceedings. Here they are escaping.”
He added that the Opposition was only asking for Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be present in Parliament.
The student protests in Delhi last month led to the resignation of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dharmendra Pradhan as the Union education minister on July 25.
The protests against alleged mismanagement of several competitive examinations had begun on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign staged a demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to demand that Pradhan resign.
On July 20, thousands joined the protest. This came two days after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital.
The protesters’ march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators. The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country.
The Cockroach Janta Party had agreed to call off the protests after Pradhan’s resignation.
Written by Sneha. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.
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