The UPSC examination issue rocked Parliament on Friday as the Opposition staged a walkout after repeated adjournments in the Rajya Sabha when the Government refrained from giving a deadline to resolve it. The lok Sabha also saw unruly scenes and a member tore up papers and threw them towards the Speaker.
No business could be transacted in the Upper House with the Opposition also demanding an apology from Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prakash Javadekar for allegedly instigating his party members to protest when the UPSC issue was raised.Home Minister Rajnath Singh tried to pacify the agitated members in the Rajya Sabha by stating that the Government had taken seriously the ongoing agitation by civil services aspirants and would try to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
He also informed the House that the Government received the Arvind Verma Committee report on the issue on Thursday and was studying it besides considering all aspects. The Opposition, however, was not satisfied with Singh’s reply and sought a definite timeline and then staged a walkout.The Opposition made its intentions clear as soon as the House met for the day and Pramod Tiwari (Congress) and Naresh Aggarwal (Samajwadi Party) pointed out that the Government had assured that the issue would be resolved within seven days.
Sharad Yadav of the JD(U) pointed out that the future of seven lakh candidates was at stake and said the Government received the Verma Committee report on Thursday. “In this scenario, how much more time will the Government take to address the matterIJ” Yadav asked.
While Chairman Hamid Ansari tried to pacify the agitating members from almost all Opposition parties, they said the House would not be allowed to function till the Minister of State for Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) Jitendra Singh gave a clarification. Sensing the mood, Ansari then adjourned proceedings for 15 minutes at 11.10 am.
Similar scenes were witnessed when the House reassembled with Samajwadi Party members raising slogans and their leader Ramgopal Yadav alleging step-motherly attitude towards Indian languages. The House was then adjourned till 12.00 pm.When the House met again, Jitendra Singh said the Government had assured Parliament on July 25 that the issue would be resolved within a week. However, the Government got only four to five working days since then due to the weekend and Eid holiday, he said adding the Verma Committee report was also submitted on Thursday.
He said since the issue is sensitive and serious and there are different views on it, the Government needs time to study the Verma Committee report otherwise it will be improper to go ahead and take a decision.The members were not satisfied with Jitendra Singh’s statement and asked him to announce a date for finding a solution. Satish Mishra (BSP) urged the Government to take back cases registered against agitating candidates who have to appear for the UPSC examination on August 24. Sharad Yadav backed his plea.
The House then saw sharp exchanges between the Opposition and treasury benches and Naresh Aggarwal alleged that Javadekar was instigating his party members to stop the Opposition from raising the issue. The agitated members then demanded that either Javadekar should issue an apology or the Chair should take action against him. This led to another spat between the ruling party and the Opposition. The House was then adjourned for 15 minutes.
In the lok Sabha, RJD member Rajesh Ranjan stormed into the Well waving a newspaper while seeking a statement on the UPSC examination row and later tore the newspaper and threw it in the Well, with some of it landing on the Speaker’s table.later, during his Zero Hour mention, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan chided him saying his behaviour in the House was not proper, forcing him to apologise, not once but twice.