Parliament Adjourned Amid Congress-Soros Links Storm

Ours is the largest democracy in the world and it fulfills the hopes and aspirations of the people, we all have to maintain the dignity of the House – Om Birla, Lok Sabha Speaker

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day on Tuesday amid protests by Oppo-sition members seeking to raise various issues. As soon as the House met, Speaker Om Birla talked about the repeated disruptions of Lok Sabha proceedings over the past few days due to protests by the members.

Meanwhile, Noisy protests erupted in the Rajya Sabha as treasury and opposition benches traded charges and raised slogans over alleged Congress-George Soros links and Adani issues, leading to the adjournment of the House in the afternoon

The Speaker said the House has its own respect, high standard and dignity, and no one should try to lower these. "Ours is the largest democracy in the world and it fulfils the hopes and aspirations of the people. We all have to maintain the dignity of the House. But I have seen that in the last few days certain things have happened which were not good," he said.

Without elaborating, Birla said it was noticed that even senior leaders took part in these inci-dents, which was not good. At this, Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said the opposition should tender an apology for its behaviour.

"Be it Opposition or ruling party members, everyone should maintain dignity and work in such a way that a positive message goes out of this temple of democracy," Birla said. The speaker said agreement and disagreement are part of the healthy democratic process and both sides should sit across the table and iron out their differences.

He said Question Hour, the first hour of the daily business of the House, is very important and everyone should try and ensure it is held smoothly. After this, Birla started Question Hour. Im-mediately, the Opposition members were on their feet, seeking to raise their issues. "You don't want to run the House? Please allow the House to function normally," the Speaker said.

The opposition MPs ignored his pleas, leading to Birla adjourning the House till 12 noon and then later announcing adjournment for the day as the protests didnot subside.

The Opposition's protests over the BJP's allegations of links between the Congress and Hungari-an-American businessman George Soros, and the Adani issue rocked the Lok Sabha on Monday too, leading to the adjournment of the House without transacting any significant business. The proceedings of the House were washed out in the first week of the winter session starting November 25 due to protests by opposition members demanding discussion on issues like the in-dictment of industrialist Gautam Adani in a US court and Sambhal violence.

Last week, the House functioned properly for only two days -- Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, BJP member Nishikant Dubey sought to draw some linkages between a foreign billion-aire investor and a section of opposition leaders, and claimed an international conspiracy was afoot to derail India's success story under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi and others tried to counter the allegations levelled by Dubey, leading to turmoil and adjournment of the House.