Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien on Thursday lost his cool and pulled up Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Navqi, warning him of disciplinary action if he questioned the Chair. These remarks were later expunged from the records.
This took place at 2 pm, when the House reconvened after two adjournments due to Opposition uproar over demonetisation issue, Kurien allowed Congress leader Anand Sharma to raise a Point of Order. He claimed that the Constitution had been violated.
However, Sharma was disturbed by slogan shouting members of the Treasury benches agitating Kurien. When Naqvi said the members wanted a debate on the issue, to which Kurien said that a Point of Order can be raised and it is answered. The Minister asked the Deputy Chairman under what Rule this was binding. Angered by this, Kurien warned Naqvi to sit down, else he will take action against him, even if he was a Minister. Naqvi then sat down. Kurien’s comments against Naqvi were later expunged, marking a rare case where the Chair’s remarks have been deleted from the proceedings of the House.
Meanwhile, Kurien also grilled Sharma after he made an attempt to raise a Point of Order, which was rejected as the Chair was not convinced with the argument. The Deputy Chairman asked Sharma to specify which Article of the Constitution had been violated as claimed by him.
Sharma gave various arguments, including the one that the Monetary Policy is the domain of the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) and the Prime Minister had made a departure from the established Constitutional norms by making the announcement. As Kurien kept posing his question, the former Union Minister shuffled pages of the Constitution, saying he is looking for the Article.
Sharma then said the Prime Minister had made the announcement on demonetisation on November 8 when summons for convening the Parliament had already been issued and so he should have made the announcement in Parliament. However, Kurien was not convinced and he rejected Sharma's Point of Order.
Pramod Tiwari (Congress) also raised the Point of Order saying Article 74 of the Constitution has been violated because the Prime Minister, as head of the Government, had made the announcement in an address to the nation and so he should make a statement in the House as well.
Kurien rejected this also, ruling that there is “no Point of Order”. He asked Tiwari not to make a political speech in the House. “I am not bothered about the politics of it,” the Deputy Chairman said.