NEW DELHI, 4 March 2005 — President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam summoned Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibtey Razi here to explain his decision to swear in a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led government despite its doubtful majority as the Parliament was rocked by a second day of protests yesterday by the Hindu nationalists.

Members of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their allies were on their feet shouting slogans against the ruling Congress as soon as the Lok Sabha (lower house) assembled and repeatedly stalled the proceedings over the Jharkhand issue prompting the Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to adjourn the house for half and hour. Later the house was adjourned for the day.

With the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) agitated over Razi’s decision to administer the oath of office to JMM leader Shibu Soren, supported by UPA allies, the president apparently aims to clarify the constitutional legitimacy of the governor’s move.

Razi has come under severe criticism for inviting Soren to form a coalition government despite the NDA showing the requisite majority support of 41 legislators needed in the 81-member assembly.

Stunned by the governor’s decision, the NDA leaders met Kalam to express their outrage. The NDA delegation, led by former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, sought the president’s intervention against what they described as the “shocking” and brazen assault on democracy by the governor.

Shouting slogans like “murderers of democracy, shame, shame,” and “dictatorship in democracy will not be tolerated,” NDA members stormed the well of the Lok Sabha soon after it assembled. The slogan shouting members displayed copies of newspaper carrying the headline, “Murder in Raj Bhawan.”

Describing it as the “blackest day in the history of Indian democracy,” BJP leader V.K. Malhotra said that the governor had sworn-in a person who had murder cases against him in that very state.”

When Malhotra continued his attack, despite the speaker asking him not to drag in the governor as it would be against the rules of Parliament, Chatterjee adjourned the Lok Sabha for half-an-hour.

With NDA members continuing their charges when the house re-assembled, Devendra Prasad Yadav, who was in the chair, adjourned it for the day.

Pandemonium over the Jharkhand issue rocked Rajya Sabha too, which was first adjourned till 1400 hours by Chairman B.S. Shekhawat, within five minutes of it having assembled. BJP leaders Venkaiah Naidu, Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi and Rajnath Singh raised a clamor over this issue in front of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh also raised the issue. When it reassembled, after tabling of papers, and Deputy Chairman K. Rehman Khan adjourned Rajya Sabha for the day.

Meanwhile, nearly two-dozen Congress MPs, led by Rahul Gandhi, staged a sit-in protest yesterday outside the Parliament protesting against its repeated adjournments. The first-time MP from Amethi appealed to the opposition not to disrupt and destroy the parliamentary process.

“If you want to protest, do protest, if you want a discussion we are ready, but allow the house to function,” Rahul said. “We have come here to learn (from debates) but that is not being allowed,” he added. 

Referring to frequent adjournments as “a gross wastage of time and money,” he said: “The temple of democracy should not be desecrated” by such disruptions.

Over the past two days, an estimated Rs 52 crores had been spent on adjournments, Rahul said.

Since Tuesday, the parliamentary proceedings have been repeatedly stalled because of opposition’s protest against developments in Jharkhand and Goa.

Unmoved by Congress members’ protest against parliamentary adjournments, BJP deputy Ravishankar Prasad termed it as a “cruel joke.”

“First the Congress murdered democracy in a planned manner and now it is waving placards saying ‘save democracy,’” Prasad said.

Even the CPM yesterday questioned the “hasty manner” in which the Jharkhand governor allowed the formation of the Soren-led government. The CPM said in a statement: “Even while not accepting the claim of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)-led alliance about the majority it has mustered in Jharkhand, it must be pointed out that the hasty manner in which the governor has gone about ascertaining the support for the two combinations is controversial.”

Congress President Sonia Gandhi too is “very unhappy” over Razi inviting the UPA to form a government in Jharkhand amid doubts over whether it enjoyed majority support, well informed sources said yesterday.

Saying Razi’s controversial action Wednesday would be seen as having her tacit blessings and those of the Congress-led UPA government at the center, Gandhi aides told journalists she was livid over the governor’s role.

“Gandhi may even advise the government to recall Razi. The Congress has to come out of this trouble,” a senior MP said. The leader pointed out that the UPA-appointed governor in Goa had also made things difficult. “The party has already burned its fingers in Goa. It cannot afford one more constitutional mishap, especially when it leads a multiparty coalition,” he said.