Vinesh Phogat issue sees raised voices in Rajya Sabha; Dhankhar leaves House briefly after war of words with Opposition

New Delhi: Growing acrimony between the Rajya Sabha Chairman and the Opposition was evident once again on Thursday with Jagdeep Dhankhar leaving the House following heated exchanges with I.N.D.I.A bloc MPs over not allowing to raise disqualification of Vinesh Phogat from the Paris Olympics.

He returned to chair the proceedings an hour later during Question Hour though an afternoon meeting with floor leaders did not bring out any resolution with the Opposition claiming that he had allowed a discussion on death of students in Delhi floods on notices by BJP MPs but refused to even mention their notice.

Tension between the Chair and the Opposition has been brewing for some time and last Monday, over a dozen Opposition parties, including BSP, wrote to Dhankhar protesting against not choosing the Ministry of Home Affairs for discussion, calling his decision “completely unilateral and unprecedented”.

The high drama started as soon as the House assembled for the morning session as Dhankhar went ahead with Zero Hour. Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge wanted to “raise an important issue...not an issue of a particular individual” but was not allowed, leading to protests from the I.N.D.I.A MPs.

With Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O'Brien protesting, Dhankhar said he (O'Brien) was “shouting at the Chair” and his conduct was the “ugliest in the House”. As the Opposition walked out, Dhankhar said, “they (Opposition) think they are all wise. They think they are the only ones whose hearts are bleeding. The entire nation is in pain because of our girl.”

He said the Opposition was challenging the Chair through certain words uttered, letters written and through newspaper articles while announcing that he is leaving the chair for some time to introspect. Dhankhar returned to the chair an hour later at 12:38 PM, saying he would be holding a meeting at 1:30 PM on the “spectacle which I found was unprecedented”.

At the meeting, sources said, Dhankhar said some are trying to depict him as a BJP person and that he was not against anyone. He also said some were mimicking him. He also took objection to shouting slogans during the walkout, sources said.

Opposition leaders referred to the July 29 discussion on the death of four students in a basement in Delhi due to flooding, saying he converted a notice to suspend business to a short duration discussion while such a mechanism was not adopted on the Phogat issue.

Sources said O’Brien told the Chairman that he did not even read out the subject or the names of MPs who gave the notice, like he did on July 29 when the notices were signed by BJP MPs also.

NCP (Pawar) leader Sharad Pawar is learnt to have suggested that the Leader of Opposition should be allowed to speak even if he has mentioned the subject only as “urgent matter”.

In their letter on August 5 protesting against choosing the Ministry of Cooperation for discussion instead of their demand for MHA, the Opposition leaders claimed that there was a consensus in the Business Advisory Committee on discussing Housing and Urban Affairs, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Defence.

The BAC had also decided that the “choice of the fourth ministry – only between ministries of New and Renewable Energy and Home Affairs – be made by the Chairman after consultations” with parties.

“Regretfully, you have on your own decided and announced that the fourth ministry to be taken up for discussion will be the Ministry of Cooperation. This goes against the letter and spirit of what had been decided in the BAC under your chairmanship. Your decision is completely unilateral and unprecedented,” the letter said.

So far, the Rajya Sabha has discussed the working of ministries of Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and New and Renewable Energy. Opposition leaders have alleged that the discussion on the Ministry of Cooperation has not been listed on Thursday and they suspect that it may not come up for discussion.