NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha Vice President Harivansh broke his one-day fast on Wednesday, and began protesting rebellious behavior towards him by some members of the opposition during the passage of agriculture bills on Tuesday in the Upper House on September 20.
Janata Dal (U) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh aka Lalan Singh offered juice to Harivansh to help him break his fast.
“Harivansh ji fasted for 36 hours. He had not eaten anything since Monday night. He was fulfilling his duty as vice president of Rajya Sabha. There is a fixed procedure of everything in democracy and everyone has the right to raise their concerns under the rules. If the Opposition or anyone else thinks they can do what they want, it is not possible. If that happens, it will be anarchySingh told ANI.
Singh further said MPs who were suspended from Rajya Sabha should think about the conduct of the vice president, whose decision to move on quickly showed a sign of greatness.
“In what regulation is it written that the vice president can be threatened and papers thrown at him? The suspended deputies should introspect this. The vice president’s gesture of visiting and bringing tea to the deputies while they protested reflects their greatness,” he added.
Harivansh observed a 24-hour fast on Tuesday in hopes that it would lead parliamentarians who had behaved in rebellious behavior toward self-correction.
Harivansh had also written to the president Ram Nath Kovind and vice president Venkaiah Naidu say that protests in the upper house on September 20 by opposition leaders during the passage of the two bills on Sunday caused him pain, stress and mental strain.
“Members of the Upper House indulged in violent activities in the name of democracy. They tried to threaten the person in the Presidency. They broke all the rules, the Upper House system. Members of Parliament broke the rule book and or I got it, “Harivansh’s letter read.
The vice president also mentioned that the vision of the Opposition leaders rising to the table of the House officials, raising crude and non-parliamentary slogans and violent behavior has remained with him.
Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the chairman of Rajya Sabha, on Monday rejected the motion of no confidence filed by the opposition against Harivansh saying “it is not admissible under the rules.”
Opposition parties had filed a motion of no confidence against Rajya Sabha’s vice president after he quashed opposition pleas to postpone Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s response to the debate on the two agricultural bills until on Monday, as the session time scheduled for the House ended.
On Monday, Naidu announced a one-week suspension of Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen from the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party‘s (AAP) Sanjay Singh, Congress’ Rajeev Satav, Ripun Bora and Syed Nasir Hussain, KK Ragesh and Elamaram Karim of CPI (M) for “rebellious behavior” with the vice president of Rajya Sabha on Sunday during the approval of the agricultural laws.
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