Parliament was adjourned suddenly on Tuesday, hours ahead of schedule for its scheduled close, due to a loud confrontation between ruling BJP and opposition MPs. The clashes revolved around allegations linking the Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to media organisations and think tanks funded by the businessman George Soros.
Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day, but not before Speaker Om Birla expressed dismay over the behaviour of MPs. “Ours is the largest democracy in the world, fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of over a billion people. We must maintain that dignity. I have witnessed events that are not conducive,” he said after one particularly unruly session.
Birla called upon all members, irrespective of party affiliations, to uphold the dignity of the House. “Agreements and disagreements are a part of healthy democracy,” he said, calling upon both sides to come forward for constructive dialogue.
The Speaker’s warning came as opposition MPs had refused to permit the beginning of Question Hour, pressing for discussions on the allegations implicating Soros and Gandhi. “Please allow the House to function smoothly,” Birla urged as the opposition raised the Soros issue.
Just after the adjournment, BJP MP Sambit Patra attacked the opposition and the Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. “Rahul Gandhi doesn’t know how to behave as Leader of the Opposition,” he said, lamenting the disruption caused by the opposition.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju also targeted Gandhi, accusing him of undermining parliamentary democracy. He claimed that other opposition MPs, including those from the Congress’s allies—the Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress—had expressed similar frustrations to him.
Responding to which, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who attended her first Parliament session after winning the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, said, “We try every day to have a discussion, but they don’t want to engage. that is why they get the House adjourned for any reason.”
The opposition Congress-led INDIA bloc, meanwhile, has moved a motion of no-confidence in the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, Jagdeep Dhankhar, accusing him of acting in a partisan manner in the House. It was signed by more than 50 MPs from parties like the Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, and the Samajwadi Party. The notice has been given to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.
The call for the vote came after chaotic scenes in the House, with the BJP targeting senior Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi over purported links to Soros and a media organisation part-funded by his foundation.
Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge shot back that the Chair’s attitude on this issue was the reason for the motion against Dhankhar. “Even as 11 notices of BJP MPs to discuss allegations against Gandhi were rejected, the Chair allowed derogatory remarks against her, ” he said.
The BJP accusations come amid attempts by the opposition to bring to light a range of pressing issues, from recent violence in Uttar Pradesh to a U.S. indictment against directors of Adani Green Energy, a company owned by the Adani Group. There was also a report from French media outlet Mediapart suggesting “hidden links” between the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, or OCCRP, and the U.S. government, which the BJP says is targeted at India. These allegations were renounced by Congress as they replied to the allegations with, “We are patriots.”.
