Women opposition MPs gherao treasury benches in Lok Sabha, force adjournment

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday witnessed dramatic scenes as women opposition MPs charged towards the Prime Minister's seat holding banners ahead of his scheduled speech, leading to adjournment of proceedings for the day.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present in the House and BJP member P P Chaudhary was making his remarks on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address when the opposition members trooped into the Well of the House.

Government floor managers had indicated that the prime minister would reply to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks at 5:00 PM.

When the House met at 5:00 PM after three adjournments, BJP member Sandhya Rai, who was in the chair, called Chaudhary to make his remarks on the Motion.

Soon, the women members of the Opposition trooped into the Well and made their way to the Treasury benches protesting against the trade deal with the US and former Army chief M M Naravane's 'unpublished' book.

As opposition members approached the prime minister's seat, the presiding officer adjourned the proceedings for the day.

The prime minister is now expected to speak on Thursday in Rajya Sabha where the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address has taken place without any disruption.

It was not immediately clear when the prime minister would speak in Lok Sabha as opposition protests are expected to continue. A discussion on the Union Budget has been listed in the Lok Sabha agenda for Thursday.

The face-off between the government and the opposition in Lok Sabha had intensified on Tuesday following the suspension of one CPI(M) and seven Congress members for unruly behaviour for the remainder of the Budget Session.

Some Dalit members of the ruling alliance also met Speaker Om Birla to complain that they were insulted by the opposition benches while chairing the House proceedings.

Drama ensued outside the House also when Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, while protesting alongside his suspended party colleagues, taunted Union minister and former Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu with a "traitor friend" jibe.

Bittu retorted calling Gandhi 'desh ka dushman', while BJP later paraded its Sikh leaders to charge the Congress leader of insulting the community.

The Lok Sabha has witnessed stormy protests by the opposition members since Monday when Rahul Gandhi insisted on referring to the unpublished book of Naravane, a move strongly opposed by senior ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah among others.

On Wednesday, when the House re-assembled at 2 PM after two adjournments at 11 AM and 12 noon, BJP member Nishikant Dubey raked up a fresh controversy by referring to books such as "Edwina and Nehru" and "Mitrokhin Archive" among others and made certain remarks targeting former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

As Dubey kept listing books and what they said about various members of the Nehru-Gandhi family, TDP member Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was in the chair, said he cannot allow this as the Speaker had already given a ruling against making such comments.

Tenneti cited Rule 349 to not make such remarks. Rule 349 bars members from reading from any book, newspaper or letter except in connection with the business of the House.

Dubey's remarks angered the Congress and other opposition members who charged towards him, leading to the adjournment of the House till 5:00 PM.

After the House was adjourned, Congress MPs met Speaker Birla to protest the Chair's decision to allow Dubey to speak quoting from books, contending that the Leader of the Opposition had been denied such an opportunity.

Opposition members were demanding suspension of Dubey from the House for his remarks. Separately, Dubey held a press conference to further buttress his charges against the Gandhi family and Congress party.

The debate on the Motion of Thanks was initiated by Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday and seconded by BJP member Tejasvi Surya.

Rahul Gandhi started his speech with references to Naravane's unpublished book, which triggered a stand-off with the government.

An unrelenting Gandhi found support from members of the SP, Trinamool Congress and DMK who refused to participate in the debate.

TDP's Harish Balayogi, BJP members Dubey and Chaudhary have made brief remarks in the debate.

The Lok Sabha had allotted 18 hours for the debate, but only two hours and 44 minutes of discussion had taken place till Wednesday.