By IANS
New Delhi : Both houses of the Indian parliament witnessed acrimonious scenes Thursday on the 15th anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition with Left and other party members stalling the proceedings of both houses that led to repeated adjournments.
The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, which were disrupted as soon as they met in the morning, were adjourned for the second time till 2 p.m.
When the lower house met at 12 noon after an hour-long break, the Samajwadi Party MPs stormed the well of the house shouting slogans, seeking punishment to those who razed the Babri mosque in Ayodhya on this day 15 years ago.
Amidst the din, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee asked the ministers to table the papers listed in the day’s business and adjourned the proceedings till 2 p.m.
When it met in the morning earlier, the Lok Sabha witnessed noisy scenes as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs started shouting “Jai Shree Ram” while the Samajwadi Party and Left members raised slogans demanding punishment to the “culprits” who demolished the 16th century mosque.
BJP MPs sought to raise the issue of burnt bodies found in West Bengal’s troubled Nandigram area, countering the protesting Left, Samajwadi Party and TDP members.
Congress MPs joined the din, demanding action against Gujarat Chief Minister Narenda Modi for virtually justifying the killing of a Muslim man in a fake gun battle that has led to the arrest of a senior police officer.
Nothing was audible, except Ramji Suman’s (Samajwadi Party) screaming over the Babri mosque razing: “The guilty should be punished, the guilty should be punished.”
An exasperated Speaker Chatterjee adjourned business until noon after failing to persuade the members to calm down.
Similar noisy scenes in the Rajya Sabha led to adjournment until noon and later till 2 p.m.
In the upper house, Samajwadi party MPs Shahid Siddiqui and Abu Azmi were demanding immediate submission of the Liberhans Commission inquiry report. The judicial commission was set up in 1993 to probe the mosque demolition.
Even before the house met at 11 a.m., MPs from the Left parties, the Samajwadi Party and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) gathered outside the main gate and shouted slogans demanding punishment to the demolishers of the mosque.
“Hang the murderers of democracy” and “Punish the guilty of Babri Masjid”, the banners read in English and Urdu held by Samajwadi Party MPs, who sat on the steps leading into parliament.
Thousands of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists demolished the Babri mosque Dec 6, 1992, claiming it stood at the birthplace of Hindu god Ram. The razing sparked one of the worst outbreaks of communal strife in India.