The Opposition INDIA bloc on Friday described the presence of CISF personnel inside the Rajya Sabha as “unprecedented and disturbing.”
“We are astonished and shocked at the manner in which CISF personnel are made to run into the well of the House when the members are exercising their democratic rights of protest,” Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, wrote in a letter sent to the deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, Harivansh.
The opposition MPs allege they were stopped from trooping into the Well of the House, the usual go-to-place for the MPs to raise a protest against the government.
Kharge said the CISF personnel were seen inside the House on Thursday and Friday.
“We saw this yesterday and we saw this today as well. Has our Parliament been reduced to such a level? This is most objectionable and we condemn in unequivocally,” Kharge wrote.
When the House re-assembled at 12 noon, some MPs of the Trinamool and the DMK tried to enter the well but were blocked by security personnel at the entry point. Some of the MPs sneaked into the well and raised slogans. They also protested against their blockade by security staff in the house.
Some of the members who protested in the well were Trinamool’s leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien and deputy leader Sagarika Ghose and Nadimul Haque, DMK MP Tiruchi Siva and Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh.
"After the sudden and unprecedented resignation of the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, we are now seeing the takeover of the chamber of the Council of States by the personnel of the CISF," Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
Trinamool’s leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien said, “Rajya Sabha today. Unprecedented. Marshals (or CISF personnel) pre-emptively barricade well. Never seen anything like this before. So scared to discuss SIR-vote chori. Modi-Shah, INDIA will fight you to the finish. See you Monday.”
Both the Houses of the Parliament have been adjourned till 11 am Monday (August 4) amid uproar by Opposition over discussion on Bihar SIR.
