Kharge turns down Dhankhar offer amid Parliament chaos on China debate
For the first time in the winter session, Lok Sabha was repeatedly adjourned on Thursday due to disruptions while Congress-led opposition boycotted Rajya Sabha proceedings for the entire day after the chair disallowed any discussion on the India-China border issue.
The opposition boycotted Rajya Sabha after their notices for a discussion on the China border issue was disallowed by Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. They also protested against certain remarks made on Bihar by Leader of the House Piyush Goyal earlier during the session, calling it an “insult”.
Dhankhar asked Goyal and leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge to meet him in his chamber after the opposition members crowded the well and raised slogans. However, Kharge said the border was not a “private” matter but needed to be discussed openly as the MPs are answerable to the people.
The opposition was irked with Dhankhar for chiding their MPs for making outrageous mistakes in their notices and “tearing your oath to pieces” by crowding the well. He challenged them to show video of the “unruly” proceedings to their family and friends. Another time, he warned Congress MP Rajni Patil, when she did not respond to his calls to return to her seat, that she would “regret it all her life”.
As the opposition members refused to budge, Dhankhar allowed Kharge to speak. Kharge insisted that rather than going strictly by rules, the chairman should follow unwritten conventions to allow a discussion on China. “There is no rulebook for matters relating to national security,” he stated.
Goyal got up to remind the opposition of past instances when border aggressions were not discussed in Parliament. He added that both the defence and external affairs ministers had already made statements. Goyal even pointed to the ceding of thousands of hectares of land in J&K (Aksai Chin) to China, recalling how then PM Nehru had justified it saying that not a blade of grass grew there. Goyal also faulted the Gandhi family-run Rajiv Gandhi Foundation for taking funds from the Chinese embassy.
Lok Sabha witnessed repeated adjournments amid persistent demands by the opposition that PM Modi address the House on what happened on the India-China borders.
Congress MPs continued to demand that the government agree to “China pe charcha, instead of Chai pe Charcha’.
With five adjournments through the day, only a limited legislative business could be transacted.
