Winter session: Its numbers low, but on Day 1 Opposition stands up to be counted

The debate on the black money issue is now likely to take place on Wednesday, in the post-lunch session.

The Trinamool Congress members were first off the block on Tuesday, joined by the Congress, SP, RJD and AAP after Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, sought suspension of Question Hour. When Speaker Sumitra Mahajan cited rules to turn down Kharge’s request, Sudip Bandyopadhyay of the TMC jumped up to announce: “No issue will be allowed unless the black money issue is discussed.”

This prompted Kalyan Banerjee of TMC and Dharmendra Yadav of SP to move into the well while Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress urged his partymen to follow suit. Sonia Gandhi held hurried consultations with Kharge and Kamal Nath while Mulayam Singh Yadav too rose in protest. TRS and Left members, who also stood up, did not join the protest.

Black umbrellas painted with ‘Kala dhan wapas lao (Bring back black money)’ stood out, infuriating the Speaker who said this was no way to behave and introduce a “new style” of protest. No one paid heed to her and the din continued while two questions — one on demand and supply of fertilizers and the other on streamlining the public distribution system — were taken up.

The fourth question that never came up was on the blasts in Burdwan and Murshidabad in West Bengal — at least one ruling party member pointed this out later, saying the TMC didn’t want it discussed.

With the Opposition refusing to relent, even lower the umbrellas, the Speaker adjourned the House for over half hour. When proceedings resumed, Sonia Gandhi spoke to Deepender Hooda who then waded into the Opposition huddle in the well and led the charge. He was joined by party colleagues Gaurav Gogoi, Sushmita Dev and Rajiv Satav. RJD’s Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav, sporting dark shades, was part of the chorus.

At least four TMC members decided to stay put — Moon Moon Sen, Deepak Adhikari, Sugata Bose and Dinesh Trivedi. While Adhikari resisted repeated attempts to get him to enter the well, the others simply stood up in solidarity. Shashi Tharoor and several of his Congress colleagues also sat quietly, letting their younger colleagues take on the government.

All this while, the treasury benches watched silently — Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not in the House since he had left for the SAARC summit. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the government was ready for a discussion and House proceedings should, therefore, be allowed. But he was shouted down by the aggressive Opposition. Their voices hoarse, the men turned to the women members who then resorted to ululation, even taking turns to do it.

After the lunch break, when protests continued, Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai asked the Opposition what was it that they wanted. At this, Kharge said he had asked for suspension of Question Hour which was disallowed. As comments flew in from treasury benches, Kharge exploded, saying the government should apologise for going “town to town, village to village” to discredit the UPA-II. The Opposition parties said they would not back down and staged a walkout. For once, they were a single entity.