NEW DELHI, 20 April — The Parliament was paralyzed for a fifth straight day yesterday, as an all-party meeting failed to end a stand-off over opposition demands for the dismissal of the chief minister of riot-torn Gujarat state.
Opposition members stormed the well of the lower house as soon as it convened, shouting slogans in favor of the immediate ouster of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Deputy Speaker P.M. Sayeed tried in vain to restore order before adjourning the house, as he has been forced to do every day since Parliament returned from a three-week recess on Monday.
Similar scenes were witnessed in the upper house which was adjourned within minutes of members assembling.
Earlier, Sayeed had chaired an all-party meeting which was attended by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and opposition Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi.
However, the discussions failed to break the deadlock, with the opposition refusing to drop its demand for a censure motion on the sectarian violence in Gujarat which has claimed more than 900 lives. The government has voiced its willingness to discuss the Gujarat issue, but not in a formal debate that would involve a vote.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan later told reporters that “sharp differences” had emerged at the speaker’s meeting.
The government believed that law and order was an issue for individual states and not a subject that should be discussed by the Parliament, the minister said.
Therefore the opposition demand for a debate on the subject followed by a vote was unjustified.
Mahajan also pointed out that a special commission formed to probe the causes of the Gujarat riots had yet to submit its report. Mahajan quoted Vajpayee as challenging the opposition parties to move a no-confidence motion against his government.
“The prime minister made it clear that we also favor a debate. But he said if they wanted a vote, they were free to bring a no-confidence motion on the floor of the house,” Mahajan said.
