November 05, 2024 22:17 (IST)
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Black money, conversion issues paralyze Parliament today
New Delhi, Dec 22 (IBNS): The Opposition parties united on Monday to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on issues of conversion and black money, as both Houses of the Parliament were adjourned repeatedly and several important bills could not be taken up with just one day remaining in the Winter Session.
The Lower House was adjourned after Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Pappu Yadav misbehaved with the Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai and threw papers at the chair.
This happened when the House reassembled at 3 PM after repeated disruptions in the morning session.
Earlier, the Lok Sabha was adjourned amid a ruckus over the conversion issue as the oppositions demanded Modi to explain his government's stand on conversions.
The upper house was adjourned too as the issue continued to roil Parliament and in demand of a statement by the Prime Minister.
Before the Lok Sabha was adjourned, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) M Venkaiah Naidu said they are governing the country well and people are happy and the Opposition should let them govern.
The Rajya Sabha on Monday, where the government is in minority, saw the closing in of the Opposition ranks over the issue.
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien was caustic in demanding the appearance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a statement in Rajya Sabha on the issue.
"You don't need a 56-inches [chest] to come here, you just need a four-inch heart to come here," he said mocking the PM's reference to the same during his election campaign.
The Opposition was united in attacking the government over conversion issue.
The Lower House also witnessed a walkout as the Janata Parivar led by Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav protested over the black money issue.
Mulayam along with other SP leaders staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha protesting against the government over the black money issue.
According to reports, the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) block which includes the Janata Dal United (JDU), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) also held a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Monday.
Meanwhile, as the Winter Session of the Parliament is scheduled to end on Tuesday, crucial bills such as Insurance and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bills remained only listed for discussion in Rajya Sabha.
The day was almost wasted with the conversion issue creating ruckus in both the House creating a logjam.
M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said that there was no conflict between the party and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over the issue of religious conversions.
Naidu said that that RSS chief Mohan Bahgwat had said the people who were converted into other religions have got the right to be re-converted and return to the folds of Hinduism.
The minister said that the central government would not forcibly and unilaterally bring a law to ban conversions.
Claiming that conversions and re-conversions were nothing new as they used to happen even before Independence, he said that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had nothing to do with it.
“The government is not getting involved either in conversions or reconversions. The BJP has nothing to do with it,” he said.
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