New Delhi: A day after they submitted a no-confidence motion against Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, INDIA bloc parties held a joint press conference and said they were forced to take the step to “safeguard the democracy and Constitution.“
The leaders made allegations about the manner in which the proceedings have been conducted by the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who is Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, accused Dhankhar of behaving like a “spokesperson of the government for his next promotion”.
He alleged that the “biggest disrupter” in Rajya Sabha is the Chairman himself.
“He (RS chairman) does schooling like a headmaster… From the opposition side, whenever important issues are raised as per rules – the chairman doesn’t allow to discuss in a planned manner. Time and again opposition leaders are stopped from speaking. His (RS Chairman) fidelity is towards the ruling party instead of the Constitution and constitutional tradition. He is working as a spokesperson of the government for his next promotion, it is visible to us. I have no hesitation in saying that the biggest disruptor in Rajya Sabha is the Chairman himself,” Kharge said.
He said it is the first time in the history of Rajya Sabha that a no-confidence motion has been brought against the Chairman, who is also the country’s Vice President.
“Vice president is the second biggest constitutional post in India… Since 1952 – there has been no resolution brought to remove the Vice President as they have always been unbiased and beyond politics. They always ran the House as per the rules. But, today, there is more politics than rules in the House,” he said.
Kharge said that the Chairman’s behaviour in the House has damaged “the dignity of the country”.
“He has brought such a situation in the history of parliamentary democracy that we had to bring this notice for the resolution (of no confidence). We have no personal enmity or political fight with him. We want to tell the countrymen that we have taken this step to safeguard the democracy, constitution and after giving a lot of thought to it,” he said.
DMK MP Tiruchi Siva said the ruling party members make baseless and wild allegations and are allowed to speak and parliamentary conventions are not being respected.
“There’s a blatant attack on the democracy of this country in the parliament by the ruling party and they are guarded by the Chair is a very sad thing… We have experienced in the past when the BJP was in the opposition and when Congress was also in the opposition – whenever the Opposition Leader stands up to speak or offers to speak immediately, the floor will be given to the Opposition Leader and no one will interrupt… What is going on in the country, we are not at all allowed to speak, means it is a blow to parliamentary democracy and the democracy of this country,” he said.
RJD MP Manoj Jha said it is not about an individual but it’s about the restoration of the core principles of the democracy. “If you have seen the proceedings of the last 2 days – the language a few people have used for whom we had respect – it not only pains but we also think that if there would be a regime change in the days to come, will we be able to repair and restore the democracy?”.he asked.
Answering a query about the opposition parties not having numbers to get the motion adopted, Kharge said that numbers will come once their notice is admitted.
Earlier in the day, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed Congress over the no-trust motion against the Rajya Sabha Chairman and said that if the opposition attacks the dignity of the Chairman, “we will protect”.
Soon after the Rajya Sabha met for the day, Kiren Rijiju said the son of the farmer has become Vice President and the entire country has seen he has kept the dignity of the House.
He also slammed the opposition. “You have no right to be members if you can’t respect the Chair. We have taken an oath to protect the sovereignty of the country…We will not allow the drama of notice to succeed,” he said.
The INDIA bloc submitted the no-confidence motion on Tuesday to the Secretary-General of the Upper House.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said it has been signed by 60 members.
The Winter Session of Parliament has seen frequent adjournments with opposition members seeking discussion on Adani issue, Manipur situation and Sambhal violence. The treasury benches have been seeking a discussion on alleged links between Congress and George Soros.