Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday came out in support of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who made a peace offering to the protesting suspended MPs by offering tea after their overnight sit-in, saying his gesture showed he was “blessed with a humble mind and a big heart”.
On Tuesday morning, Harivansh visited the MPs who were suspended a day before during the chaos over the farm bills and offered them tea. While the MPs rebuffed his advances, Prime Minister Narendra Modi came out strongly in support of Harivansh. “To personally serve tea to those who attacked and insulted him a few days ago as well as those sitting on Dharna shows that Shri Harivansh Ji has been blessed with a humble mind and a big heart. It shows his greatness. I join the people of India in congratulating Harivansh Ji,” PM Modi tweeted.
He added, “For centuries, the great land of Bihar has been teaching us the values of democracy. In line with that wonderful ethos, MP from Bihar and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Shri Harivansh Ji’s inspiring and statesman like conduct this morning will make every democracy lover proud.”
A motion for the suspension of the eight leaders — Rajeev Satav, Syed Nasir Hussain and Ripun Bora (all Congress), Dola Sen and O’Brien (TMC), KK Ragesh and Elamaram Kareen (both CPM), and Sanjay Singh, was moved by the government and approved by a voice vote in the House.
This came after Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu rejected a notice for a no-confidence motion against Deputy Chairman Harivansh as it was not in proper format and did not give a 14-day notice period. Opposition members, objecting to the manner in which the two farm bills were being passed, had on Sunday stormed the well of the House and when their demand for voting wasn’t met, they tore papers, climbed on tables, shouted slogans, and allegedly threw the rule book at Harivansh, who was presiding at that time.
Condemning their behaviour, Naidu said Harivansh had later informed him that he was “abused with objectionable words” and “would have been harmed also”. Opposition parties hit out at the government over the suspension of the eight Rajya Sabha MPs and sat in for an “indefinite” protest on Parliament premises against the move.
Carrying pillows and blankets at the protest site, the eight MPs shouted slogans and even broke into songs as they protested in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Parliament complex. “We will not budge,” they asserted. “Suspension won’t silence us. We will stand with farmers in their fight. The (Rajya Sabha) deputy chairman throttled parliamentary procedures yesterday,” said CPI(M) MP Elamaram Kareem, who is among those suspended.
Sources told News18 that an ambulance has been arranged as standby for the protesting members, while drinking water has also been arranged as the leaders plan to stay at the site overnight.
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