By IANS
New Delhi : The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the second time Wednesday when members demanded a discussion on the political violence in Kerala and other states as well as the strike by Airports Authority of India (AAI) employees and did not allow the proceedings of the house.
The house met at 1 p.m. after a two-hour adjournment in the morning. However, it had to be adjourned again 15 minutes later as the Left members sought a statement from the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on the attack on Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) activists in different states. Some other members, including those from the Congress, wanted a discussion on the airport strike.
Leader of the house and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee intervened and assured the members that the government would respond to their concerns with the request: “Let the normal business be transacted.”
But the agitating members did not yield. Even the request from presiding officer Mohan Singh did not soften the members. Singh finally adjourned the house till 1:30 pm.
During this commotion, some papers listed for the day were laid on the table of the house.
Earlier, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee adjourned the house for two hours after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Left MPs carried on a verbal clash over the political violence in Kerala’s Kannur district and the state high court’s observation that central forces should be sent there.
Clashes between the CPI-M and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) workers in Kannur district’s Thalassery town in the northern part of Kerala have led to the death of seven people since last week.
The speaker condemned the members’ behaviour, saying: “The parliament has become a public street”.
“I can only express my agony…It is a murder of democracy,” the anguished speaker added as MPs belonging to the BJP and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) shouted slogans against each other.