Farm Bills Ruckus: Rajya Sabha adjourned 5 times as suspended MPs refuse to leave

Rajya Sabha was today adjourned for the day as suspended members from the Opposition refused to leave the House. The Upper House will reconvene again on Tuesday (September 22) as part of the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament.

The suspended MP’s continued to stage a protest inside the house despite repeated requests from the Deputy Chairperson Harivansh and Presiding Officer Bhubaneswar Kalita to leave the house so that the order was restored. The House was adjourned five times, the last one when the Presiding Officer finally called it the day around noon.

“I request the suspended members to please leave the house so that the Leader of the Opposition speaks in an orderly manner,” Kalita said before calling it a day in the.

Rajya Sabha session is held between 9 am and 1 pm and Lok Sabha from 3 pm to 7 pm every day in the session.

Earlier in the day, chairman M Venkaiah Naidu announced the suspension of the eight members for one week from the House for ‘misconduct’ with deputy chairman Harivansh during discussions on farm bills on Sunday. The suspended members are Rajeev Satav, Syed Naseer Hussain and Ripun Bora of the Congress, KK Ragesh and Elamaram Kareem of the CPI Derek O'Brien and Dola Sen of AITC, and Sanjay Singh of AAP.

“We will not leave the house until the government tells us how come were the farm bill passed without a vote and despite not having numbers,” Sanjay Singh was heard in a video from inside Rajya Sabha that his team released to the media.

The suspensions came after the House adopted the government motion moved by Union Parliamentary Affairs minister Pralhad Joshi under the section 256 of procedure and conduct of business in the Upper House.

Naidu condemned the ruckus that took place in the Rajya Sabha on Sunday.

"I was pained yesterday….Whatever happened yesterday defied logic. It was a bad day for the Rajya Sabha. Some members came to the well of the House and threw papers. They damaged the mic of the deputy chairman and also threw papers at him. You have no right to obstruct the chair and the business in the House. It tarnishes the image of the House. Is it a Parliamentary standard?,” the Vice President of India said.

The House, however, rejected the no-confidence motion moved by twelve Opposition parties against Rajya Sabha deputy speaker Harivansh over the manner in which two farm bills were passed in Rajya Sabha without allegedly following the due process.

The suspension sparked a political slugfest between BJP-led NDA and Opposition parties

“’Muting Of Democratic India’ continues: by initially silencing and later, suspending MPs in the Parliament & turning a blind eye to farmers’ concerns on the black agriculture laws. This ‘omniscient’ Govt’s endless arrogance has brought economic disaster for the entire country.” Congress leader Rahul Gandi said.​

The Upper House witnessed unruly scenes on Sunday evening after Opposition members alleged that the due process of allowing a detailed discussion on the farm bills was not followed in the House. A ruckus erupted soon after the deputy chairman, Harivansh put the bills to vote amid a demand of detailed discussion form the Opposition members who also wanted the bills to be scrutinised by a select committee of the Parliament.

The bills were eventually passed through a voice vote even as some Opposition members rushed into the well, shouting slogans against the government accusing it of being anti-farmer.

The two controversial bills --- the Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 -- passed by both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will now go to the President for his assent before they are notified as laws. The third farm bill-- Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 is yet to be taken up in Rajya Sabha.