Lady Marshal Assaulted, MPs Shoved, Torn Papers Flung: The Day 'Democracy Died' in Parliament

The stormy Monsoon Session of Parliament abruptly ended two days before the August 13 schedule, with the government-opposition logjam over issues such as Pegasus snooping controversy and farm bills. Vice-President and Chairman of Rajya Sabha Venkaiah Naidu expressed his anguish over the washout, and broke down in the House on Wednesday.

High drama was witnessed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday over the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, with the Opposition MPs jostling with marshals in Parliament, according to a CCTV footage released on Thursday.

Here’s is the lowdown on the ugly scenes witnessed in the Upper House on Wednesday:

Between 2:16 pm and 4:01 pm, the Opposition MPs sat on the reporters’ table in front of the Chair for 100 minutes.

Around 3 pm, before adjourning the House for an hour, Vice-Chairperson Bhubaneswar Kalita announced that Deputy Chairperson Harivansh has invited all floor leaders for a meeting. However, there was no meeting ground, and Kalita adjourned the House before it assembled again at 4 pm.

At 6:02pm: TMC MP Dola Sen waived black cloth and TMC’s Shanta Chhetri kept shouting “democracy killed” in the Well of the House

At 6:22pm: Dola Sen pushed and obstructed the way of Leader of the House and Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi

At 6:26pm: TMC’s Nassir Hussain and Aprita Ghosh, and NCP’s Priyanka Chaturvedi tore papers in the Well of the House

At 6:31pm: Congress’ Chhattisgarh MPs — P Devi Netam and Chhaya Verma — pushed, dragged the lady marshal and banged her head.

At 6:33pm: Congress’ Assam MP Ripun Bora made attempts to climb over the marshals and reach the chair

At 6:40pm: TMC MP Derek O’brien was recording the proceeding of the House

At 7:04pm: All opposition parties’ leaders walked out. Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Mallikarjun Kharge said there were more marshals than the members present in the House.

At 7:05pm: Arprita Ghosh, Mausam Noor and Dola Sen stood on the first row of the benches

TMC’s Dola Sen alleged Priyanka Chaturvedi, Shanta Chhetri and Mausam Noor were pushed around by the marshals.

Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut, a member of the Rajya Sabha, was quoted by news agency ANI as saying that the alleged physical bullying “felt like we were standing at the Pakistan border”.

“We want the strongest possible action against those who have violated the rules of the house. There were only 30 marshals – 18 men and 12 women – no one from outside were brought. We condemn their behavior and how they lowered the dignity of the house,” said minister Piyush Goyal.

The Monsoon Session witnessed lowest productivity of the 17th Lok Sabha as it could function only 21 hours and 14 minutes as against the stipulated 96 hours. The Rajya Sabha, however, could work only for 28 hours of the available 97 hours and 30 minutes.

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