NEW DELHI: The lower house (Lok Sabha) of the Indian Parliament witnessed uproarious scenes yesterday as several legislators stormed the well, shouting slogans on different issues concerning them.
Legislators started disrupting the proceedings soon after the House assembled for the day. Initially, annoyed at this behavior, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee adjourned the House for 15 minutes. Chatterjee’s comments on legislators’ unruly behavior had no impact on them, who continued disrupting the proceedings, leading the speaker to adjourn Lok Sabha again.
Lashing at the unruly behavior displayed by legislators, Chatterjee threatened to adjourn the House sine die. “You are insulting the people of the country and wasting public money. You do not deserve even a single paisa. You are behaving in a condemnable manner,” he said.
Unmoved by the furious stand taken by Chatterjee, the legislators continued creating a ruckus, prompting him to say: “You don’t deserve any allowances. I think this House should be adjourned sine die. This is the only way to save public money.”
“I hope that the people of the country would give a fit verdict in the coming elections,” the speaker said. The current session of the 14th Lok Sabha, the last before the parliamentary elections, will continue till Feb. 26.
When the Lok Sabha proceedings resumed at noon, the legislators began protesting again, forcing the Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal, who was then chairing the session, to adjourn Lok Sabha for another two hours.
Legislators belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) voiced protest against the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (reservation in post and services) Bill 2008. Those belonging to Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) protested for the second day, demanding a stop to the war in Sri Lanka.
