The Congress on Wednesday repeatedly disrupted the Rajya Sabha proceedings protesting the party was not invited to form the Government in Manipur and Goa despite emerging as the single largest party in the recently held polls there. The main Opposition party also charged the ruling combine of “stealing the mandate.”
Criticising the role of Governors of Manipur and Goa, the Congress members time and again stormed into the Well of the House raising slogans like “murder of democracy” against the Government. The agitated members forced five adjournments in the pre and post lunch sessions.
The Government shot back and said the Governors cannot be discussed in the House without a substantive motion. Raising this objection, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also urged Deputy Chairman P J Kurien to expunge any reference to the Governors. He took a dig at the Congress for not accepting with “grace” the mandate of the people and said the more the Opposition blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the more he gained popularity amongst the masses.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Congress leader Anand Sharma cited rulings by the constitution benches of the Supreme Court to drive home the point that the Governor was bound to invite the party with the largest number of MlAs to form the government and prove its majority on the floor of the House. He also alleged the Governors were “acting at the behest” of the Centre.
He congratulated the ruling BJP for scoring a big victory in Uttar Pradesh and said the Congress got a massive mandate in the sensitive border state of Punjab and emerged as the single largest party with 28 MlAs in the 40 member Manipur assembly. “The incumbent Chief Minister (in Manipur) was in a position to form the government” but the Governor ignored his claim and called the BJP to form the government, Sharma said.
Referring to the Apex Court judgments, Sharma said it “made it absolutely clear that if there is no clear mandate, the Governor is obliged to invite the leader of the largest party to form Government and prove the majority.” He alleged “the mandate has been violated,” adding Manipur and Goa have witnessed “stealing of MlAs and stealing of mandate.”
As his party colleagues continued to raise a din, Kurien tried to move on to other issues like D Raja wanting to raise the matter of a JNU student allegedly committing suicide in the national capital. However, the Congress did not allow him to put across his point for some time even as Kurien pleaded with them that Raja was trying to draw the attention of the House to a Dalit issue. The house was then adjourned for ten minutes at 11.20 am.
When the House reassembled, Congress members again trooped into the well shouting slogans. Backing Congress contention, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said the single largest party should be invited first. Giving an example, he said the Vajpayee Government, which had lasted for just 13 days, was invited to form Government as it was the single largest entity in the lok Sabha polls in 1998.
leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad did not oblige Chairman Hamid Ansari to run the Question Hour and said the issue was important as it pertained to whether “democracy will survive or not.”
Azad also charged the Government with “murder of democracy” and said the NDA Government was not even respecting the Supreme Court judgments.
Ansari had to adjourn the Question Hour twice.