As the proceedings began in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Opposition members gathered at the threshold of the Well of the House and shouted slogans- “Kisan Virodhi yeh sarkar, nahi chalegi, nahi chalegi (This anti-farmer government will not be accepted)” and “MSP par jawab do (speak on the demand for MSP)”.
Rajya Sabha Chairman asked the agitating members to back to their seat. “Interest of farmers is not served by sloganeering or shedding crocodile tears… Farmer is your last priority,” Dhankhar said, adding that till now the Opposition had not raised this issue nor did any of the notices under Rule 267 mention this issue but now that the farmers are trying to march to Delhi, these parties are raking it up.
When the protests continued, Dhankhar warned that he would name the members trying to disrupt proceedings. He reminded the members that five working days were washed out in this session due to adjournments.
The Opposition staged a walkout. Later when Dhankhar called Congress member Pramod Tiwari to speak, he said, “The annadatas (farmers) are representatives of God on earth, This government should grant their demand for guarantee on MSP. Thank you for raising this issue. Please direct this government to give them MSP.”
Dhankhar had posed some questions to Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at a program in Mumbai on Tuesday whether the government had made any promises to farmers and were these fulfilled. He further sought to know what steps are being taken to meet their demands as there were protests last year and now these have started again. These remarks have created a buzz and Congress tried to rake it up while raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha.The House functioned normally through the day.
