Rajya Sabha Vice President Harivansh approached the suspended MPs and offered them tea this morning.
New Delhi:
Eight members of the Rajya Sabha opposition, suspended yesterday due to mass chaos when controversial farm laws were passed on Sunday, spent the night in the gardens of the parliament complex and declared that they were in an indefinite protest. Yesterday they had refused to leave the Rajya Sabha, which was suspended five times.
When members, including Derek O’Brien of the Trinamool Congress, Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party, Rajeev Satav of Congress and KK Ragesh of CPM, left the Rajya Sabha, they moved their protest to the Parliament Gardens near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, where they spread. sheets and sat holding signs that read: “We will fight for the farmers” and “Parliament assassinated.”
This morning, Rajya Sabha Vice President Harivansh approached them with tea and poured it into cups, but they rejected his “tea diplomacy”, calling it “anti-farmer”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi came out strongly in support of Harivansh. “Serving tea personally to those who attacked and insulted him a few days ago, as well as those who were sitting in Dharna, shows that Shri Harivansh Ji has been blessed with a humble mind and a great heart. It shows his greatness. people of India in congratulating Harivansh Ji, “tweeted Prime Minister Modi.
The vice president is at the center of the opposition protests; his motion of no confidence against him was rejected yesterday by President Venkaiah Naidu.
With pillows, blankets, two fans, and mosquito repellants, the suspended limbs made it their first full night. “We would like the government to know that this is an indefinite protest,” Derek O’Brien told reporters.
Opposition leaders from various parties visited them in solidarity, including the leader of the National Conference, Farooq Abdullah, former Prime Minister Deve Gowda, Jaya Bachchan of the Samajwadi Party, and Congress leader Ahmed Patel. The leader of the Congress, Digvijaya Singh, sat with them for almost four hours.
Derek O’Brien said that opposition MPs had sent food from their homes at regular intervals, especially for two diabetic members over 65: Congress leader Ripun Boren and CPM’s Elamaram Kareem. There was an ambulance waiting.
AAP’s Sanjay Singh said: “We will continue to protest against farmers’ bills until the Modi government provides a justification for passing these bills without having the necessary votes.”
Opposition members accuse the vice president of helping the government rush the agricultural laws in Rajya Sabha on Sunday without following the democratic process. Harivansh had rejected their requests to send the bills to a select committee for review or even to extend the discussion until Monday. The bills were approved by voice vote after the president rejected the opposition’s requests for physical voting and splitting of votes.
Angry members of the opposition climbed onto the Secretary-General’s table in the center of the Chamber, threw a rule book at Harivansh, and took out microphones. Some members also tore copies of the bills. In the unprecedented scenes, the bailiffs had to form a wall between the vice president and the protesting members.
“It hurts me what happened yesterday. It defies logic. It’s a bad day for Rajya Sabha,” Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu said on Monday, suspending eight members. The action sparked a new furor in the opposition, as the parties said members never had a chance to defend themselves.
Naidu said the members had “physically threatened” his deputy and even abused him.
The bills, which were passed in the Lok Sabha previously, will now go to the president for approval before becoming law.
The government says the bills will make it easier for farmers to sell their produce directly to large buyers, reform outdated laws and remove middlemen from the equation, allowing farmers to sell to institutional buyers and large retailers. But the opposition argues that farmers will lose their bargaining power if retailers have tighter control over them. The parties also believe that the proposed laws will destroy wholesale markets that guarantee fair and timely payments to farmers, weaken the state’s farmers when compared to big business, and hurt the state economy as a whole.
.
