Oppn to boycott remaining session of Parliament | Economic Times

New Delhi: Several opposition parties have decided to boycott the remaining part of the monsoon session of Parliament in protest against suspension of eight Rajya Sabha MPs for the rest of the session. The announcement came even as there were indications that Parliament could adjourn sine die on Wednesday. The Lok Sabha has completed its official business and the RS could rush through its remaining business on Wednesday.Tuesday’s session in the Rajya Sabha saw the opposition demanding that the suspension of MPs be revoked, soon after the day’s special mentions, but Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said the MPs should first apologise for their conduct when the farm bills were taken up on Sunday. Opposition MPs soon walked out after Leader of opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad announced that they were boycotting the remainder of the session. Showing solidarity with Rajya Sabha counterparts over the questionable manner in which the contentious farms bills were pushed through and MPs suspended, many opposition parties announced boycott of the session in the Lok Sabha too.Before announcing the boycott in the RS, Azad said MPs who represent crores of people were not given enough time to express views in the House and this has caused angst. Moreover, bills are not sent to standing or select committees. He emphasised he did not approve of MPs standing on the table or breaking mikes but it happened after their “frustration” reached “breaking point”.“I have repeatedly said sense of the House does not mean numbers,” Azad said, adding coordination should be between opposition and government and not Chair and the government. “I do not know if the government had a majority as voting on the resolutions did not take place. The bills should have been passed clause by clause and there should have been division on the amendments,” Azad said. He suggested that the government reintroduce the bills with provisions to prevent private players, states and FCI from buying crops below MSP and fixing MSP as per Swaminathan Commission recommendation.Though the Lok Sabha passed the bills last week, opposition MPs in the House demanded their recall, terming them “anti-farmer and anti-poor”. The opposition unity was similar to the RS, with BSP and TRS joining Congress and like-minded parties in the boycott. Before the walkout, the opposition forced an adjournment when Congress MP RS Bittu alleged the Delhi Police had “brutally assaulted” him and three Congress MPs while agitating against the farm bills on Monday. Though the Chair assured them the issue would be looked into, the House witnessed noisy protests, leading to the adjournment.Speaker Om Birla repeatedly tried to prevail upon opposition MPs when the House reassembled by saying that dragging matters related to the RS was not a tradition. However, senior opposition leaders such as Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Congress), TR Balu (DMK) and Kalyan Banerejee (Trinamool) argued the House could not remain immune to serious developments in the sister House after the “treatment meted out to some of our brothers there.” Echoing the Speaker, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said “what happens in one House has never been discussed in another House. It is highly unfortunate that the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman was even beaten up”. Braving protests, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the bills would ensure better prices for farmers’ produce. “Congress is displaying opportunism. It says one thing in the House and another to the people. The Congress government too wanted to bring the provisions.” Dismissing Tomar’s claims, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged: “After bringing anti-farmer legislation, preventing voting and even suspending colleagues in the Rajya Sabha, the government is introducing anti-labour laws. People are agitating all over the country and we are with them. We are boycotting the Lok Sabha and you have compelled us to do so.”