Congress disrupts Parl over Arunachal Guv

Parliament was repeatedly disrupted on Thursday as the Congress created uproar over “alarming” developments in Arunachal Pradesh. Targeting the Centre, the party alleged that efforts were being made to “destabilise” its government in the state  – a charge refuted by the Centre, which said that it had no role in it.

Congress MPs also staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha, alleging “murder of democracy” and “constitutional crisis” in the state. Some other parties like JD(U) and Left also supported their contention.

The Congress forced repeated adjournments in the Rajya Sabha too and ensured its early adjournment for the day.

In the Lok Sabha, the issue was raised by Leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge, who said there was a “constitutional crisis” in Arunachal Pradesh and accused the BJP of creating a divide among the Congress MLAs in the state. “What is happening in Arunachal Pradesh in undemocratic, unconstitutional. They are killing democracy, destroying democracy...,” Kharge said.

He made a scathing attack on the Governor, but Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai ordered that all remarks against the Governor should be expunged.

“Congress has two-third MLAs, 47 MLAs in the Legislative Assembly... This government is behaving in a way such that they divide the Congress... They have removed the Speaker...They want to form government in the state,” Kharge alleged.

“Few days back PM (Narendra Modi) has said ‘D’ stands for disruption. But here ‘D’ stands for destroying democracy,” Kharge said, following which Congress staged a walkout from the House.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said “there is no role of the Central government in the case. On Wednesday, the Chief Minister had gone to meet the Governor for discussion, but there, they accused and abused him. They are bringing shame, Naidu said.

“They have locked the Assembly, surprising things are happening. You may quit if you don’t have majority. You cannot discuss the conduct of the Governor... Decision of Governor cannot be questioned. They are abusing Governor and accusing the government, this is not acceptable... If they have any problem they should go to the court,” Naidu said.

He said the Governor has “acted within the Constitution and he has been informing the President (of the happenings)”.

Naidu also attacked Congress for disrupting the House and said the party was bringing adjournment motions even on such topics like ‘Tourism in Bihar’. 

In Rajya Sabha, the issue was raised by the Leader of the Opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who said it has never happened in the history of India that a Deputy Speaker of Assembly removes the Speaker and that too not in the Assembly, but from a makeshift venue.

Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said the notices were being examined by Chairman Hamid Ansari, adding that it was “not proper” to discuss a Governor’s role in the House.

Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said the developments in Arunchal Pradesh were “anti-democratic”. 

Sharad Yadav (JU-U) said it was not the first time that the Arunchal Pradesh issue has been raised in the House.