Thursday’s Rajya Sabha session descended into pandemonium when opposition parties imported a Lok Sabha dispute into the chamber, igniting a fierce clash with the government. At the heart of the storm: the refusal to grant speaking rights to the Lok Sabha Opposition Leader. Ruling party members decried the move as a violation of parliamentary norms, arguing that houses must remain sovereign in their deliberations.
Leading the charge, Mallikarjun Kharge passionately argued for the inseparability of parliamentary democracy. Drawing on constitutional tenets, he stressed equal stature for both houses and lambasted the silencing of opposition voices on vital topics like current affairs and international developments. ‘This isn’t about one leader; it’s an attack on the entire opposition,’ Kharge asserted.
Kiren Rijiju, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, dismissed the uproar as a premeditated strategy to derail key proceedings, particularly the PM’s address. ‘Show us the rule that links the two houses’ adjournments,’ he challenged, clarifying that while Parliament is bicameral, operational independence is sacrosanct. Rijiju insisted ample time had been allotted to the Opposition Leader in Lok Sabha.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the Finance Minister, weighed in on decorum breaches, taking umbrage at inflammatory words like ‘lynching.’ She countered by referencing a tailor’s murder case during Congress governance in Rajasthan, accusing the opposition of selective outrage. The exchange underscored simmering animosities.
Opposition lawmakers, undeterred, walked out en masse, decrying the erosion of dissent in India’s democratic temple. The government stood firm on procedural sanctity. This episode not only stalled legislative business but also exposed fault lines that could prolong the session’s turbulence, leaving the public to ponder the health of deliberative democracy amid partisan fervor.