New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday strongly refuted Opposition's allegations that marshals had manhandled women parliamentarians in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Strongly refuting the allegations, the Centre put out the CCTV footage of the unruly incident that took place on Wednesday. "They (Opposition) are spreading lies. I request the (Rajya Sabha) chairman to release the CCTV footage in the public domain... Crossing all the limits, they tried to manhandle marshals in the House," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said.
The video released by the authorities shows that the marshals had surrounded the well of the house and prevented the opposition MPs from moving towards the Rajya Sabha Chair. The MPs were seen jostling with the Marshals and two women MPs were seen pulling a woman marshal away from the human wall created by the marshals at the Rajya Sabha. The govt released the video to counter the argument of the opposition that women MPs were forcibly removed and assaulted.
Earlier in the day, Opposition members in Rajya Sabha lambasted the government over the incidents in the House when a bill related to General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021 was taken up. NCP leader Sharad Pawar alleged that 'women MPs were attacked' and 'more than 40 men and women were brought into the House from outside to control the MPs. "In my 55 years of parliamentary career, I never saw the way the women MPs were attacked in the Rajya Sabha. More than 40 men and women were brought into the House from outside. It is painful. It is an attack on democracy," NCP chief Sharad Pawar said.
Read: Opposition leaders allege women MPs manhandled in Rajya Sabha, slam government over insurance bill
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 further 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. 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.
Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil speaking about the ruckus said that the 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.
Read: 'Murder of Democracy,' says Rahul Gandhi as Opposition march to Vijay Chowk
"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," Gohil alleged, adding that General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021 was a very important bill.
