Centre and the Opposition sparred over the ruckus in Rajya Sabha during the discussion on farmers' issue even as a couple of protesting MPs stared at the possibility of being suspended from the House on charges of unruly behaviour.
AAP's Sanjay Singh had climbed the reporters' table and waved black flags while Congress' Pratap Singh Bajwa threw a file at the Chair after the House was adjourned. Another Congress MP Ripun Bora also stood on the table while others like V Sivadasan (CPI-M), Binoy Viswam (CPI), Rajamani Patel (Congress) and Mausam Noor and Arpita Ghosh (both Trinamool Congress) were seen sitting on the table.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge defended the Opposition protest saying that what they needed was a discussion on repeal of farm laws and farmers protest and not the general one -- agriculture problems and solutions -- listed by the government.
Asked about the ruckus, he said some MPs might have got emotional but it was not meant to hurt anybody. "The government wants to send a message that the Opposition is disrupting Parliament and not allowing a discussion. But look at the way they designed the discussion and we could not accept that," he said.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi "strongly condemned" the ruckus and said the Opposition has "crossed all limits of unparliamentary behaviour today and did not even spare the Chair".
While Singh called the government's claim "a joke", Bajwa said it was an "attempt to deceive" the nation.
Congress Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh said, "today's pandemonium in the Rajya Sabha is a direct consequence of the mischievous strategy of the Modi govt to divide the Opposition and its refusal to discuss the repeal of the 3 farm laws and the ongoing agitation of farmers."
While Bajwa described the move as an "attempt to deceive the nation", senior RJD MP Manoj K Jha said the Opposition did not want a "poetic discussion" on the agriculture sector. "What we demanded was a discussion on the repeal of farm laws. This government is dishonest," Jha said.
Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O'Brien said the government tried to be "too clever" by tweaking the subject. "Nobody wants to discuss in general. What we demanded was a discussion on a specific point. All opposition parties have called out the government bluff. The government is running away from Pegasus. It is running away from repealing farm laws," he said.
CPI(M) floor leader Elamaram Kareem said "two important expressions were conspicuously" absent from the subject of the short duration discussion, which were "repeal of the laws" and "farmers' protest"