TMC member Derek O’Brien attempts to break the Rule Book during the rampage at Rajya Sabha on Sunday. (Screenshot)
Dismissing objections and pleas from the opposition, the government passed two key agricultural bills in Rajya Sabha on Sunday amid unprecedented scenes of chaos, confusion and uproar. Agitated members of the opposition, protesting the extension of the House session beyond the scheduled end of 1 pm, broke copies of the bills, broke microphones at the president’s table, threw a copy of the Rules of Procedure to the officer who he presided and then sat in a dharna in the Chamber even after the suspension of the day.
Never unsure of their number in the Upper House, and since many members of the Opposition have cited health reasons for staying away, the government, using its numerical force, rejected the Opposition’s demand to refer the Bills: Commerce and Trade in Agricultural Products (Promotion and Facilitation), 2020, and the Price Guarantee Agreement and Agricultural Services for Farmers (Empowerment and Protection), 2020 – to a select committee for parliamentary scrutiny.
Already approved by Lok Sabha, the bills, passed by voice vote, will now go to the president for approval before becoming law. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a series of tweets after the bills passed in Rajya Sabha, described it as “a watershed moment in the history of Indian agriculture,” while BJP members called it “historic. … a great reform “.
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