UPSC exam row continues, Samajwadi Party threatens to block Parliament
New Delhi: Question Hour was again a casualty in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday as Opposition members created an uproar over the UPSC issue trooping into the well and forcing adjournament of the House for half-an-hour.
As soon as the House assembled for the day and the Chairman tried to take up Question Hour, members from Congress, SP, BSP, CPI-M, CPI, DMK and AIADMK were on their feet raising the UPSC matter.
Noisy scenes continued in the House even after Opposition members spoke on the issue demanding scrapping of the CSAT pattern of examination and seeking question papers of Preliminary Examination in all languages.
After his fervent appeals to allow Question Hour to take place did not have an impact, Chairman Hamid Ansari, apparently agitated, told the members that he will call a meeting of the Rajya Sabha Committee to decide whether the Question Hour is desired or not.
"If you do not want to have a Question Hour, I will have a committee meeting and you decide whether you want to have a Question Hour or not...Government has explained its position (on the issue).
"If you want a discussion, give a notice...You cannot raise extraneous matters in Question Hour," Ansari remarked.
Samajwadi Party pledged support to the students protesting against Civil services aptitude test (CSAT) issue and threatened to disrupt the proceedings of the parliament till CSAT is scraped off entirely from the civil services examination.
Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal told ANI, "We will give notice to the parliament regarding this issue and we will not let the parliament function until CSAT is scraped off entirely from the IAS examination."
He also added that preference must be given to Hindi and regional languages.
AIADMK members trooped into the well seeking a response from the government and demanding that question papers of the UPSC exams should be in Tamil language.
Though the Congress has demanded scrapping of the CSAT pattern of exams alleging that it favours students from English background at the expense of those from Indian languages, party members B K Hariprasad and J D Seelam from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh respectively struck a discordant note.
Noting that he hails from a region whose languages is not one among 22 Indian languages in the eighth schedule and wondering what will happen to them, Hariprasad demanded that "status quo should be maintained".
J D Seelam (Cong) felt "taking away English will be a disadvantage for all non-Hindi states".
As Seelam was in the aisles speaking loudly, a visibly upset Ansari said "You are no body here...you cannot talk from there". The remarks angered some members.
As the din continued, Ansari adjourned the House till noon.
