By IANS
New Delhi : Both houses of parliament were adjourned Monday without transacting any major business after the opposition disrupted proceedings over the violence in West Bengal’s Nandigram area.
As the Lok Sabha met, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) MPs asked for the suspension of question hour to discuss the violence in Nandigram.
The region has seen violence since January over a proposed special economic zone the West Bengal government wanted to set up on farmland. The decision, later scrapped, sparked a turf war between the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and a Trinamool Congress-backed group.
A total of 34 people have been killed since January in Nandigram, according to official figures. But the opposition maintains that many more have died and that CPI-M activists have chased away many more from there.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said the question hour should be allowed and the matter could be raised at noon. However, the opposition did not relent. CPI-M MPs stood up shouting: “What happened in Gujarat?”
Unable to control the MPs, Chatterjee adjourned the house at 11.10 a.m. The Rajya Sabha was also adjourned due to similar pandemonium over Nandigram.
Both houses met again at 12 p.m. but were adjourned again after the papers listed in the business were laid.
In the Lok Sabha, BJP MPs did not allow Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi to announce this week’s business. “We want to discuss Nandigram,” shouted BJP leader V.K. Malhotra.
As the opposition appeared determined not to allow any other business, Chatterjee adjourned the proceedings for the day.
However, Chatterjee expressed condolences over the loss of lives in Bangladesh due to cyclone Sidr.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee also announced that New Delhi was sending relief material to Bangladesh.