TMC MP tears IT Min’s papers; Govt to move motion for his suspension
The Rajya Sabha on Thursday witnessed all-round chaos as TMC MP Shantanu Sen tore off a copy of a statement being read by Information and Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on the Pegasus snooping controversy. Sources in the Government said it will seek action against some Opposition MPs, including Sen, and move a motion for his suspension.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) members tore papers when Vaishnaw was called to read the statement by the Chair in the afternoon session. As bedlam prevailed, the Minister could not complete his statement and instead laid a copy of it on the table of the House. Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh tried to restore order and asked members to desist from unparliamentary behaviour, before adjourning the proceedings of the House for the rest of the day.
The pandemonium comes days before TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to visit national Capital to engage with Opposition leaders.
Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi condemned the conduct of Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha and said it is a “new low” in India’s Parliamentary democracy.
Shantanu snatched papers from Vaishnaw after TMC, Congress and other Opposition party members who had earlier forced two adjournments of the proceedings in the Rajya Sabha rushed into the Well of the House as the Minister was called to make a statement on the snooping row.
On his part, Sen alleged that Union Minister Hardeep Puri abused him in Parliament and was on the verge of physically assaulting him before he was rescued by his Opposition colleagues. Puri has so far not commented on the issue.
Government sources said the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal and his deputy Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi reached out to the Opposition members and assured them that the Minister will reply to their queries after he makes his statement, but in vain.
The situation remained tense in the House as the two sides engaged in a heated exchange.
Deputy Chairman Harivansh asked the members to desist from unparliamentary behaviour, before adjourning the proceedings of the House for the day. “Please do not adhere to this unparliamentary practice,” Harivansh said, adding that the report that all MPs want to hear has now been laid on the table of the House and it can be discussed.
He called the Minister to read his statement and Vaishnaw read out a few sentences before the ruckus drowned his voice and he said he was laying the statement on the table of the House.
“You do not want a discussion on an issue you have been agitated about...This is undemocratic,” the Deputy Chairman remarked.
He said the Minister has laid the statement on the table of the House and asked if the MPs want to ask him any questions on that. But the opposition MPs continued to raise slogans against the alleged snooping controversy.
In the ruckus, the Deputy Chairman sought laying of the Parliamentary committee reports that could not be laid at the scheduled hour in the morning due to opposition protests. Soon after, he adjourned the proceedings for the day.
The statement that the Minister laid on the table of the House was similar to the one he had made on July 19, a day after reports appeared of journalists, political rivals and critics of the Government being targeted through surveillance using Israeli company NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.
In the statement, Vaishnaw, whose phone number was among those listed as compromised by Washington Post, called the reports an “attempt to malign the Indian democracy and its well-established institutions”.
“A highly sensational story was published by a web portal last night. Many over-the-top allegations were made around this story. The press reports appeared a day before the Monsoon session of Parliament.
This can’t be a coincidence. In the past, similar claims were made regarding the use of Pegasus....Those claims had no factual basis and were categorically denied by all parties,” Vaishnaw added.
Amid the ruckus, Vaishnaw implored all members of the House to “examine the issue on facts and logic”.
The phone numbers of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, former election commissioner Ashok Lavasa and others were said to be the potential targets of surveillance using the Pegasus spyware, which allows clients to infiltrate phones and monitor text messages, camera feeds and microphones.
Earlier in the day, Opposition MPs stalled the proceedings in the Upper House of Parliament, forcing two adjournments. Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tried to raise the issues of income-tax raids on newspaper group Dainik Bhaskar, but was disallowed by the chair.
Narrating the sequence of events as it unfolded in the Rajya Sabha, TMC Chief Whip Sukhendu Sekhar Ray alleged that the Union Communications and Information Technology Minister’s statement was full of lies.
He said minutes after Sen snatched the paper from the Minister’s hands, Vaishnaw was handed over another copy and he continued to read.
Soon after, the House was adjourned but not before the statement was tabled and considered as read.
“The Minister’s statement was full of contradictions and white lies. So one of our members snatched and tore it,” TMC Chief Whip Sukhendu Sekhar Ray said.
TMC alleged that after the House was adjourned and the live transmission was stopped, Union Minister Puri gesticulated at Sen ordering him to approach him. “I was gheraoed by the BJP MPs,” Sen alleged.
TMC maintained that it would continue to obstruct Parliament proceedings till the Government agrees to a “structured discussion” on the issue of snooping using Israeli spyware Pegasus.
