New Delhi: Opposition members in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday slammed the government over the incidents in the House when a bill related to insurance businesses was taken up for passage with NCP leader Sharad Pawar alleging that "women MPs were attacked" and "more than 40 men and women were brought into the House from outside to control the MPs".
Pawar termed the incidents as "painful" and an "attack on democracy" and said he has never seen such an incident in his 55 years of parliamentary life. Several other opposition members including Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Derek O' Brien also slammed the government. "In my 55 years of parliamentary career, I never saw the way the women MPs were attacked today in Rajya Sabha. More than 40 men and women were brought into the house from outside to control the MPs. It is painful. It is an attack on democracy," Pawar said.
Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi criticised the government alleging that the government talks of 'Beti Padhao, Beti Padhao' but attempts to crush the voice of women.
She alleged that MPs were manhandled. "The way the Insurance Bill was passed was not right. We all were protesting because it is an anti-people bill. This will lead to privatisation. The way women MPs were manhandled and MPs were treated like goons, they were pushed and they were threatened to remain silent, is shameful. This is my first term. I was hoping to raise people's voices in Parliament, but the Government made attempts to crush that too. On one hand, you say Beti Padhao, Beti Padhao and on the other hand, they make attempts to crush their voices," Chaturvedi said.
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Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil said Wednesday's incident will be written in "black letters" in the history of Parliament. "Rajya Sabha is known as 'House of Elders' and in history, till date, such incident has never happened. As soon as the members go into the well, the House is adjourned. When Congress was in power and BJP was in the Opposition and they used to create a ruckus, the House used to be adjourned. When the House is not in order, there is so much noise in the House, and bills are passed, this never happened in the Rajya Sabha before," he said.
Gohil said General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021 was a very important bill. "The Bill was to be moved tomorrow but it was moved today. When our women MPs protested, male security officers misbehaved with them. This will be written in black letters in the history of Parliament. This government has become so blind in power that they have forgotten how to respect women," he alleged.
Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said marshals were used and Opposition women members were "manhandled". He said if women are not safe in the Parliament, it raises questions on the way this government functions. "Today the government's behaviour in the Rajya Sabha was inappropriate. It was decided that the bill will be discussed tomorrow and today we will focus on the OBC reservation Bill and pass Constitutional Amendment Bill. Unfortunately, they did not keep their promise and they moved the Insurance Bill today. All the Opposition parties protested because it will take away the jobs of many people and increase unemployment. Also, the money with the government's insurance companies is going somewhere else and they are planning to divert that money," Kharge said.
"When the MPs were protesting, marshals were used and our women members were physically manhandled. You can yourself take an idea that if the women are not safe in the Parliament, then how this government might be functioning," he added.