The opposition walked out of the Upper House on Thursday after the Rajya Sabha rejected its demand for a discussion on the issue of disqualification of Indian female wrestler Vinesh Phogat before the gold medal match at the Paris Olympics. During this, saddened by the unruly conduct of some opposition members, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar left the chair saying that he was not able to sit on the chair for some time.
When the House proceedings began in the morning, Dhankhar placed the necessary documents on the table of the House and then started the Zero Hour and asked Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Ajit Gopchade to raise his issue. Immediately after this, some members of the opposition including Congress, Trinamool Congress stood up from their seats and started demanding a discussion on the issue of disqualifying Phogat. Gopchade was raising his issue amidst the uproar.
Meanwhile, Trinamool’s Derek O’Brien was heard saying something. When the Speaker ignored the uproar of the members, the noise in the House increased. The opposition members started raising slogans in support of Phogat. The Speaker then gave an opportunity to the Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge. He said that we had raised this issue only yesterday and it is a very important issue.
He said, ‘This issue is not a matter of concern for anyone personally.’ Kharge was still speaking when the chairman asked him which issue he wanted to raise. Kharge said the issue of Phogat. On this the chairman asked Kharge if he wanted to discuss this issue? The Leader of Opposition said, ‘Discuss… who is behind this? And how only 100 grams…’
The Chairman stopped Kharge from raising the issue and said that he will not allow this House to be used as such a platform. He asked Kharge to use the rules. Meanwhile, the opposition members started creating ruckus. Seeing the ruckus, the Chairman took Derek’s name and said that he was shouting on the chair. He told Derek, ‘Your conduct in the House is the worst. You are shouting on the chair. I condemn this. Next time I will show you the door. How dare you shout on the chair?’ Pointing his hand towards the Leader of the Opposition, the Chairman said that other senior leaders are not paying any attention to this (Derek’s conduct). He said, “This is unfortunate conduct.”
Meanwhile, the entire opposition walked out of the House shouting slogans. The Chairman said, “We have seen the ugliest scene. We have seen the dark period of democracy during the Emergency. We know how it starts. It starts with challenging the parliamentary institutions. And this challenge was given in June 1975. There was a serious challenge here. Can anyone behave like this?” After this comment of the Chairman, the leader of the House JP Nadda said that the opposition had disturbed the chair and this was a violation of parliamentary decorum. He said, “This is really condemnable.”
He especially condemned the conduct of the members of Congress and Trinamool Congress and said that this is a matter of reflection for him. He said, ‘As far as Vinesh Phogat is concerned, this is not a question of ruling party or opposition. This is a question of the country. The whole country stands with her. This is a matter of taking Indian sports forward, in which everyone is emotionally connected and standing with Vinesh.’
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has called Vinesh the Champion of Champions and has also said that the whole country stands with her. He said, ‘It is unfortunate that we are trying to divide this also into the ruling party and the opposition. Perhaps the opposition has become topicless. It has become issueless. They do not have any concrete issue.’
After this, Dhankhar said that making this sacred House a center of anarchy, attacking Indian democracy, tarnishing the dignity of the Speaker and creating a physically challenging environment is no longer a decent conduct. He said, ‘I have been seeing in recent days, the way the Chair is being challenged. Through words, through letters, through newspapers… so many wrong comments have been made. I have seen. This challenge is not being given to me. This is being given to the post of the Speaker. This challenge is being given because they think that the person sitting on this post is not worthy of it.’
Dhankhar said that he did not get as much support from the House as he should have, even though he had made no effort. He said, ‘Now I have only one option. With a heavy heart… I am not running away from my oath, but what I have seen today… the way the member has behaved… physically… the way the other side (opposition) has behaved. I am not able to sit for some time. With a heavy heart…’ saying this, Dhankhar left the chair. After this, Deputy Chairman Harivansh conducted the proceedings of the Zero Hour.
Vinesh was disqualified ahead of the women’s 50kg final on Wednesday for being 100 grams overweight. She announced her retirement this morning.
