Lok Sabha Adjourned Within a Minute Amid Opposition Protests

New Delhi – The Lok Sabha was adjourned at 11:01 a.m. on Tuesday, just one minute after the House reconvened at 11:00 a.m., resulting in extremely brief proceedings due to continued protests by Opposition members.

Opposition MPs persisted with sloganeering, demanding that Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi be allowed to speak in the House. The protests have been ongoing for the past week over this issue.

According to reports, the Speaker had permitted Gandhi to speak during the discussion on the Union Budget. However, Gandhi insisted on addressing matters related to an “unpublished book” by former Army Chief General M.M. Naravane (Retd.), which became a point of contention.

On Monday, Gandhi claimed that Speaker Om Birla had assured him he would be allowed to speak before the Budget discussion. This claim was challenged by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, which triggered chaos in the House and led to adjournment for the day.

The Lok Sabha reconvened at 2 p.m. later on Monday but was adjourned again within seven minutes due to continued disruptions. During the session, Sandhya Ray, who was presiding, called Congress MP Shashi Tharoor to speak on the Union Budget as per the scheduled list of speakers. However, Tharoor urged the Chair to first allow the Leader of Opposition to speak.

Raising the issue, Gandhi stated that members of his party had met the Speaker, who had allegedly assured them that he would be allowed to raise certain issues before the Budget discussion. He questioned whether he would be given the opportunity to speak on those points. The Chair responded in the negative.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju later clarified that he was present during the meeting with the Speaker and Congress leader K.C. Venugopal. He stated that the Speaker had indicated that smooth functioning of the House was essential and that all parties would be given an opportunity to speak. Rijiju added that the Speaker had not assured exclusive speaking rights to the Congress or the Leader of Opposition.

Despite the clarification, Opposition members continued their protests, forcing adjournment of the House for the day.

Similar disruptions were witnessed on Monday when the Speaker suspended proceedings during Question Hour after Opposition members refused to stop slogan shouting. Congress members had then also demanded that Rahul Gandhi be allowed to address the House. The Speaker had stated that members would be given speaking opportunities as per parliamentary rules and that Gandhi could raise his concerns during the Budget debate.

The ongoing controversy also stems from the previous week, when Gandhi was unable to complete his speech during the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address after he was reportedly prevented from referring to the unpublished book by the former Army Chief.

With inputs from IANS