RS adjourns over objections to triple talaq Bill

New Delhi, January 3

Chaos in Rajya Sabha after the central government introduced the triple talaq Bill forced the House to adjourn until Thursday.

Congress leader Anand Sharma moved a notice demanding that the Bill—which law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad introduced in the House—should be sent to a select committee.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley accused the Congress of trying to “derail the Bill”.

“The whole country is watching that in the other house you supported the bill and in this house you are trying to derail the bill,” Jaitley said, objecting to the Congress’s motion, which he said was not “given 24 hours in advance”.  

“Reason why it should not be referred (to select committee) is that when the practice was declared unconstitutional. Two of the judges held it as unfair and used their extraordinary power to suspend it for 6 months, which expire on February 22,” Jaitley said, quoting the verdict of the Supreme Court.

“So, there is an urgency that country expects from Parliament. Legislature must act with sense of responsibility,” he said.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal—who represented a party in the case—said: “He (Arun Jaitley) referred to judgement of SC. I want to correct the record because I appeared in the case on behalf of Muslim Personal Law Board. What he said was in context of the minority judgement”.

The development comes after Opposition disrupted proceedings in the House over recent caste clashes and violence in Maharashtra, forcing  the Rajya Sabha to adjourn twice after several opposition members, including those from the Congress and BSP wanted to raise the issue in the House.

As soon as the papers were laid during Zero Hour, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad to speak. In the meanwhile, Satish Chandra Mishra of the BSP was on his feet and raised the Maharashtra violence issue, alleging that the RSS and BJP were responsible for the violence against Dalits.

Mishra and some other members said they had given a notice for holding a discussion on the matter. Several other opposition members as well as those from the treasury benches too were on their feet. As many members tried to speak on the issue simultaneously, Naidu adjourned the House till noon.

Maharashtra remained on edge after the anniversary celebrations of a battle fought 200 years ago brought to fore simmering caste tensions, even as a statewide bandh called on Wednesday to protest against the state government’s alleged failure to stop violence, witnessed stray protests by Dalits. TNS/Agencies