New Delhi July 26 (IANS) Disruptions and protests in the Lok Sabha continued on Wednesday and soon led to its adjournment for the day as Question Hour and some proceedings including passage of a bill were conducted amid ruckus.
Opposition members from Congress stood near the Speaker s podium shouting anti-government slogans and clapping in between as the house took up Question Hour and later passed The Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Amendment) Bill 2017.
The Congress members were demanding revoking the suspension of six party MPs as well as a debate on atrocities on Dalits and minorities by cow vigilantes.
Soon after Question Hour Speaker Sumitra Mahajan urged the MPs to go back to their seats as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj wanted to make a statement on the 39 Indians missing in Iraq.
The opposition members refused to budge. Soon after as the Speaker let off BJP MP Anurag Thakur with a "warning" for recording Lok Sabha proceedings in his phone the Congress which had six MPs suspended for five sittings of the house for throwing papers towards Mahajan created a further ruckus demanding that he be suspended too.
The Congress had on Monday filed a complaint against BJP MP Anurag Thakur for what the opposition party said was "filming Lok Sabha proceedings" on Monday the same day when six of its MPs -- Gaurav Gogoi Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Ranjit Ranjan Sushmita Dev M.K. Raghavan and K. Suresh -- were suspended.
As the din persisted the house was adjourned for 15 minutes.
When the Lok Sabha reassembled the opposition members resumed their seats and Sushma Swaraj made her statement saying that there is no evidence of the 39 missing Indians in Iraq being either dead or alive but search for them will continue till there is concrete evidence about their fate.
However soon after the statement was completed Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge once again questioned the Chair for letting off Thakur with "just a warning".
Kharge said that besides suspending Congress MPs on Monday over their "unbecoming" action in the past too Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann was suspended for making a video in the Parliament complex and posting it online.
The Speaker then adjourned the House till 2.15 p.m.
After the break protests continued as The Indian Institutes of Information Technology (Amendment) Bill 2017 -- which seeks to amend the 2014 Act to declare the Indian Institute of Technology Design and Manufacturing Kurnool as an institution of national importance -- was taken up.
As opposition members continued to raise slogans Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.N. Ananth Kumar said the suspended Congress MPs have not even apologised to the Speaker.
"They are not having any repentance. They should have apologised. They have not apologised... Whatever they have done is against Parliament against traditions and is against democracy. They should not do anti-democratic anti parliamentary activities " he said.
He also said that the government was ready for a debate on the issue.
As the protests continued the Speaker adjourned the house for the day.
--IANS
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