Cong walks out of LS over Nagrota attack, BJP calls it insult to martyrs

New Delhi: Chaos prevailed in Lok Sabha on Wednesday as the Opposition blamed lack of adequate safety measures for Tuesday's Nagrota terror attack and raised the note ban issue, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's presence in the House.

Modi chaired a meeting with ministers in his chamber in Parliament on Wednesday morning ahead of the start of the session. Those attending included Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar appealed to the Congress and other Opposition parties to allow discussion to take place in the House, as 10-11 days had already been wasted.

“We want the discussion to take place. We want to hear the Opposition. PM Modi is ready to intervene in both the Houses,” Kumar said.

When the Lok Sabha convened at 11 am, the PM was present in the House. Opposition members raised the issue of the Nagrota terror attack in the Rajya Sabha, and demanded the PM's reply. To this, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government was ready for a discussion on the issue.

However, pandemonium continued in both Houses. Both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha were then adjourned till 12 noon. On resumption, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned again till 2 pm.

The Lok Sabha was adjourned again till 12:45 pm after which the ruckus continued.

“This is unfortunate. It is disrespect to democratic tradition of India. The Congress party walked out during Question Hour and then came back. The people of this country hate such petty politics,” Venkaiah Naidu said.

“Congress neither wants any discussion nor wants House to function as they are scared of being exposed. This is an insult to the Nagrota martyrs,” Naidu said.

Leader of Congress Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Jyotiraditya Scindia with TMC's Sudip Bandopadhayay later met Sumitra Mahajan on paying tribute to soldiers.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi earlier said that the government had insulted martyred soldiers by not following the Parliametary tradition of honouring those who had sacrificed their lives for the country. Gandhi claimed this was the reason the Congress had walked out. To this, Naidu responded that Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had informed everyone that combing operations were underway in Nagrota and that once these were over, tributes would be paid to the martyrs.

Opposition parties met in Parliament ahead of the start of the session to review the strategy to take on the government over the passage of the Income Tax Amendment Bill and demonetisation.

According to reports in NDTV, the Opposition will appeal to President Pranab Mukherjee against passage of the bill in Parliament on Tuesday. It is reportedly unhappy with the way in which the bill was passed without discussion as a money bill.

Terming as "black day" in Lok Sabha the passage of taxation bill amidst din without debate, opposition parties, on Tuesday, accused the government of being "undemocratic and dictatorial" and hinted at approaching the President on the issue.

The government, however, blamed the opposition for not participating in the debate and said it was "tragic" that the Bill had to be passed in the din. It asserted that the measure had to be passed for the "welfare of the poor and country" and cannot wait for those who are unable to "digest" the action against black money and corruption. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said, "We want that Income Tax Amendment Act should come through the rules. The amendments proposed by the Opposition MPs and leaders should also be kept in mind before taking the assent from the President."

Revolutionary Socialist Party said that it is contemplating to take up the issue with President Pranab Mukherjee. "The government has been totally undemocratic, dictatorial, authoritarian in passing such an important bill without discussion amidst din. It has taken advantage of the superior numbers to avoid discussion. It is unfortunate that we did not get any relief from the Chair. "I had written to the Speaker (Lok Sabha) in the morning that this bill should not be allowed to be passed in the din. But what we apprehended happened. Inspite of all of our protest, this bill was passed. The very purpose of the bill was sort of defeated," said Saugata Roy TMC MP.

Amid din, a bill which seeks to tax money deposited in banks post demonetization was passed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday within minutes without any debate. Amid fierce slogan shouting by the opposition, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Taxation Laws (2nd Amendment) Bill, 2016 was brought after it came to the government's notice that some people were trying to illegally exchange the demonetized Rs 1000 and Rs 500 currency note.

Roy said that the government is "stubbornly" sticking to its stand that there will be no discussion but "we (opposition) are all together and we will continue to press for discussion" under a rule which entails voting. CPI(M) leader Mohammad Salim said that it is a "black day" in the history of Lok Sabha and an "undeclared emergency". It is not a fight against blackmoney but "rewarding" black money hoarders", he alleged.

"The way the government is treating Parliament and willingly or unwillingly the Chair is allowing this to happen, this will be written in the history as the black day in Parliament," Salim said.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad dismissed the opposition's charge. "It is written in the Constitution what is a money bill or not. Those bills which the Speaker certifies are considered money bill.

"As far as my knowledge about law is concerned, amendments in relation to Income Tax is a money bill. Where is the scope for discussion on this?" he asked. He said the money which will come through the amendment in the Income Tax Act will be spend on villages, poor people, irrigation, roads and houses for poor.

"If somebody has problems with that than I will ask them to read Mahatma Gandhi, Deendayal Upadhyay, Ram Manohar Lohia, then you will know what we dream of," he said.

Minister of State Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said that the unaccounted money that is coming into the bank will now be acknowledged in a legal way. "It is off course tragic that it had to be passed in the din. The opposition is not able to digest the fact that these measures against black money and corruption are so wildly popular and have had an impact," he said adding that the government wanted discussions and "since the opposition did not want any discussion, they shouted". He said that a lot of thought process has gone beind the bill.

Union Minister Harsh Vardhan said that it is "unfortunate" that the Opposition did not participate in it. "It is a very important bill which has been formulated by the Prime Minister and and Finance Minister for the welfare of the poor. I believe this is a historic step where the black money is being utilized for welfare of poor and that too with their agreement. "What else will be a bigger consensus for the country. If opposition had participated, it would have been better. If the government is working for the welfare of the poor and country, then it cannot wait," he said.

N K Premachandran of RSP said that he was dissatisfied with the Speaker's ruling because it is the right of the individual member to move amendments to any bill moved by the government. "The right of the members to move amendment is totally curtailed which is truly undemocratic, which is not heard in the history of parliamentary democratic system. If this is the system we are following, when the House is in big turmoil, we can pass any legislation.

"GST bill can be passed, even Constitutional Amendment bill can be passed. This is an insult to parliamentary democratic system and it is weakening it which is quite unfortunate. This can never be agreed upon. "We are thinking of taking this matter to the President of India because the right of the member cannot be curtailed because of lack of time and that too when considering very important bill like this," he said.