New Delhi : A statement in the Rajya Sabha by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on her Pakistan visit was drowned out in an uproar by Congress members, who demanded action against the Punjab government.
As the minister, who visited Pakistan last week, stood up to read out her statement, Congress members promptly trooped to the chairman’s podium, called the government “anti-Dalit” and sought the sacking of the Punjab government.
The minister read out the whole statement despite the sloganeering. However, it was not clearly audible.
An upset Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien told the protesting members: “It is most undemocratic, unfortunate that few members take house to ransom.”
The house was briefly adjourned, but when it met again the scene was no different.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said state government will take action.
The limbs of two men were chopped off on Saturday at a farmhouse allegedly owned by a leader of the ruling Akali Dal in Abohar, Punjab, a media report said. Bhim’s hands and legs were cut off and he died on way to hospital. Another man lost his one hand and he was admitted in a serious condition in Amritsar.
Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said there was no law and order in the state.
“The incident of Abohar, at the farmhouse of a Akali Dal leader… Bhim was Dalit, the way Shiv Lal Doda called him to his farmhouse and chopped off his hands and legs, it is jungle raj,” said Azad.
“The Punjab coalition government is the government of drug and alcohol mafia. There is no law and order,” he said.
Responding to him, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) member Balwinder Singh Bhunder said the man in question was not a SAD member and added that an FIR has been registered and action is being taken.
Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati called the incident “shameful”.
“The alcohol mafia of the state is behind this,” she said.
With ruckus continuing the house was adjourned till noon.