AGENCY
New Delhi: The deadlock over demonetisation led to wastage of the 14th working day of the Winter session of Parliament on Wednesday even as the government dared the Opposition to have a debate on the issue rather than disrupting the proceedings.
Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha failed to transact any substantive business as Opposition continuously created pandemonium, leading to early adjournment of the two Houses.
In the Rajya Sabha, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad raised the issue of post-demonetisation impact on the public and said 84 people had died to the “unplanned” implementation.
He said Congress wanted to know who was responsible for these deaths. Some other opposition parties like SP and BSP wanted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise for putting the common man to hardship.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Opposition was using the tactics of disruption on a daily basis rather than resuming the discussion initiated on the first day of the Winter session on November 16 and which is yet to conclude.
The government, he said, had not wasted even a minute to agree to a debate on the issue. It also agreed to the rule under which the debate is to be conducted as well as to the demand that the Prime Minister will participate in it, said, who is also Leader of the House.
But instead of participating and concluding the debate, the Opposition has been using the Zero Hour to raise the issue for “getting footage on TV rather than listening to substantive facts on the issue. … If the Opposition has the guts, the debate should resume,” the Leader of the House said.
Immediately thereafter, BJP members started raising slogans like “Himmat Hai To Charcha Karo (If you have guts, discuss the matter).”
Since Azad spoke about the demonetisation issue during Zero Hour when only matters of urgent importance are highlighted, Jaitley raised a point of order, saying it is not permitted under rules.
He questioned how the Chair allowed the issue to be raised when a substantial portion of the debate on the same subject has already been held.
Deputy Chairman P J Kurien agreed with Jaitley and asked the Opposition benches if they were ready for a discussion.
As Treasury benches continued to shout slogans seeking resumption of discussion, the Opposition members raised slogans daring Modi to come to the House and listen to the debate. As the din continued, Kurien adjourned the proceedings till noon.
Azad said Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia yesterday stated that all the currency that was demonetised was supposed to come back to the formal banking system, implying there was no blackmoney or unaccounted wealth in the economy. “If all money was to come back, why was this high-handed decision taken,” the Leader of Opposition asked.
Also, RBI has for the last 10 days stopped giving out deposits and exchange of old and debunked currency, he said wanting to know the reason why the central bank has stopped the practice.
RBI, he said, should provide an update on the issue every day.
Azad also cited a reply to a question in Rajya Sabha earlier this week where it was stated that banks have enough currency. “If that is so, why are their queues in front of banks and ATMs,” he asked.
“Please don’t play with the sentiments of the people by making emotional statements,” he said referring the emotional speeches made by Modi on the demonetisation issue.
Mayawati (BSP) said Modi had said the hardships would be resolved in 50 days but it has been one month and there is no end to the sufferings.
Entire opposition is willing to listen to the Prime Minister provided that he comes to the House, she said, adding that Modi should apologise for the hardships caused. Kurien then asked how can opposition discuss the issue without resuming the debate. He also directed the BJP members not to raise slogans. But with neither side relenting, he adjourned the proceedings till noon.
When the House reassembled, Chairman Hamid Ansari took up the Question Hour but Opposition members were on their feet, with many of them speaking at the same time leading to uproar.
As he called the first Question to be taken up and asked Vivek Tankha (Cong) to ask his supplementaries, members of Congress, TMC, Left, BSP and SP were raising issues together.
Congress members said that for 18 days, the Prime Minister has not come or heard them as they wanted to discuss the issue of demonetisation.
TMC members also demanded the Prime Minister’s apology over his remarks against the Opposition for raising the demonetisation issue.
At one point, Satyavrat Chaturvedi (Cong), Satish Misra (BSP), Tapan Sen (CPI-M), Naresh Agrawal (SP) and TMC members were speaking together.
