NEW DELHI, 21 July — The government found itself on the back foot yesterday after a clash between the Samata Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) lawmakers over the killings of six Dalits in Bihar last week forced the adjournment of the Lok Sabha (lower house) for 90 minutes.
The Samata Party is a member of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the center. The RJD heads the ruling coalition in Bihar.
Agitated members from both parties stormed the well during zero hour and attempted to out-shout each other, with the Samata Party asserting that the law and order situation in the eastern state had worsened and Dalits were being done to death. Raising the issue, Samata Party member Prabhunath Singh said that six Dalits had been massacred in Masaurhi, near Patna, on Aug. 17 and it was suspected that a minister in the government of Chief Minister Rabri Devi was involved.
This infuriated RJD members, who demanded that members should be prevented from raising “baseless” issues.
Criticizing the Congress party, an ally of the RJD in Bihar, for remaining silent on the issue, Singh said in the absence of leader of opposition Sonia Gandhi, her deputy, Madhavrao Scindia, should react.
Singh urged speaker G.M.C. Balayogi to direct the central government to seek a report from the state government and take necessary action.
Finding no response from Balayogi, Samata Party members stormed to the well, where they were followed by RJD lawmakers. Balayogi repeatedly asked the members to return to their seats but to no avail. He then adjourned the house till after the lunch recess.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee came under criticism from opposition groups in parliament and a Christian organization for what they said were his adverse remarks against missionaries engaged in social services. Newspapers quoted Vajpayee as saying at the weekend that some of the welfare activities carried out by Christian missionaries were aimed at converting people to the faith and it was “improper”.
“How can the prime minister make such a statement... casting aspersions on the Christian community?” P.R. Dasmunshi, a lawmaker from the main opposition Congress, said in the lower house.
Dasmunshi demanded that Vajpayee come clear on his remarks made during a book release function at his house attended by leaders of the hard-line Hindu revivalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, defended Vajpayee’s remarks, saying he had said nothing wrong against Christians who account for just 2.3 percent of India’s population of over one billion.
The All-India Christian Council said the prime minister had in “one stroke cast a dark shadow of doubt on the entire Christian endeavor in national development”. The council rejected charges of forced conversions, saying that more than 25,000 Christian educational and health institutions were involved in work across the country.
“There is no conversion unless it is of one’s free will, a freedom guaranteed by the Constitution of India,” a council statement said. “Remarks such as the prime minister’s are seen as condoning the hate campaign and the canards, lies and half truths that are being spread in many parts of the country,” the Christian Council said.
A BJP spokesman, however, said Vajpayee had praised the work of missionaries in impoverished parts of the country but felt they should not carry out conversions. “The opposition wants to raise some issue and therefore it makes such unsubstantiated charges,” BJP spokesman V.K. Malhotra said.
