Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2 pm amid uproarious scenes

New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI) The Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the second time till 2 pm on Thursday amid continuous sloganeering by members of both treasury benches and the opposition.

Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, who was allowed by the chair to raise questions on the statement made by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the latest developments in India’s foreign policy, could not speak in the House due to the uproar.

Soon after the House met at 12 noon, after an initial adjournment, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar allowed Kharge to speak but treasury benches started raising slogans.

The opposition members also countered them and raised slogans, which led to a pandemonium in the House.

Slogans like “kaale kapde, kaala kaam, nahin sahega Hindustan” were heard in the House when the Leader of Opposition rose to speak.

The reference was towards the opposition members who were wearing black clothes as a mark of protest for not allowing them to raise the Manipur issue in the House.

After his appeals for order in the House failed, the chairman adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.

The Rajya Sabha proceedings were earlier adjourned briefly as opposition members raised slogans during Jaishankar’s statement and when the Leader of the House spoke on the statement.

As the sloganeering continued, Kharge said, “I have not seen a ruling party obstructing an opposition leader. The government itself is obstructing…”.

The Chairman said he expected the opposition to raise the issue on the External Affairs minister’s statement after he allowed so by relaxing rule 251.

“You did not listen to the Foreign minister, who was listing out the historical achievements of the country,” Dhankhar said, while pleading with the members to maintain order and then adjourned the House.

Earlier, Jaishankar made a statement on the latest developments related to India’s foreign policy, during which the opposition members started raising slogans.

At one point, the treasury benches started shouting “Modi, Modi”. To counter them, the opposition members shouted “INDIA, INDIA”.