Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on July 27 objected to Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury raising a point of order in the Lok Sabha after they got into a spat over Opposition members disrupting External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar’s statement on India’s foreign policy engagements.
The sharp exchange not only saw Mr. Chowdhury come to the Well but also led to a 20-minute adjournment in the post-lunch session. A Congress MP was seen hurling a piece of a torn poster at the Chair amid the sloganeering.
After an initial disruption during the Question Hour at 11 a.m., when Lok Sabha proceedings resumed at 2 p.m., Mr. Jaishankar made a suo motu statement giving a detailed summary of foreign engagements of the President, Vice-President and the Prime Minister over the last four months.
However, the Minister was barely audible as Opposition members, attired in black, trooped into the Well of the House and started shouting “INDIA, INDIA”. They were protesting against the government for not agreeing to their demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak on the floor of the House on Manipur.
After Mr. Jaishankar completed, BJP’s Kiritbhai Solanki allowed Mr. Chowdhury to raise a point of order. However, Mr. Goyal stood up and said that he would not allow the Congress leader to speak in protest against the disruption of the EAM’s statement earlier.
Mr. Chowdhury wanted to make the point about the no-confidence motion that his party brought in against the government on Wednesday. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that the government was ready for debate and the Speaker has to schedule it within 10 days.
Soon after, as a Bill came up for consideration, Mr. Goyal lashed out at the Opposition and referred to their dark clothes and said it was a reflection of their past as well their future. His exact words for the Opposition parties, however, were expunged and removed from the official records.
The Lok Sabha, that had witnessed two disruptions until 2:40 p.m., passed two Bills before being adjourned for the day. One was Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023, that seeks to promote ease of business by decriminalising minor offences by amending 183 provisions in 42 Acts.
The other one was the Repealing and Amending Bill that does away with 76 archaic and obsolete laws from statute books.
Taking to Twitter, Manish Tewari said passing Bills without taking up the no-trust motion is a violation of rules and urged Speaker Om Birla to immediately take up the motion.
