By Rajnish Singh
New Delhi, Feb 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Lok Sabha on Monday conducted its proceedings properly by resuming discussion on the motion of thanks on the President's address for the first time after the Budget was presented in the House on February 1, breaking the deadlock created by the opposition on the three contentious farm laws.
The change was the outcome of Deputy Leader of the Lower House Rajnath Singh's appeal to all the opposition members to maintain the dignity of the President's post.
Rajnath, who holds the charge of Ministry of Defence, appealed to the opposition with folded hands to let the house resume discussion on motion of thanks to President's address to the joint session of Parliament on the beginning of the Budget Session, saying "a decade-long tradition should be not be changed for a healthy democracy".
"There is a tradition to hold motion of thanks to the President's address. This is the responsibility of all political parties to maintain a healthy democracy. Traditions should not be broken in a healthy democracy. The President is not an individual, his post is an institution. We should not break the tradition and maintain the dignity of the President's post," he said.
The Defence Minister appealed to the opposition when the House assembled at 5 p.m. again after the first adjournment during the Question Hour following a ruckus created by the opposition on the farm laws, seeking separate discussion on the matter.
The minister assured the opposition that the government is ready to discuss each and every query raised by any parliamentarian.
"I appeal to all members of the House with folded hands to participate in the discussion on motion of thanks on the President's address."
Congress' Leader of House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the tradition to hold discussion on motion of thanks to President's address is going on for decades and the opposition respects the dignity of the President but requested the House to hold a separate discussion on the farmers' issue soon after the debate.
"This was our only demand that there should be a separate discussion on the farmers' issue. The purpose is to show respect to the farmers who are the source of food for all countrymen," Chowdhury said.
He was speaking in support of thousands of farmers who are sitting at different Delhi borders since November 26, seeking withdrawal of the three farm laws which they termed as "black laws" and "anti-farmer".
More than 10 main opposition parties including Congress, DMK, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Samajwadi Party, and Bahujan Samaj Party disrupted Lok Sabha proceedings last week on the farm issue by creating pandemonium in the House with members shouting slogans against the government and displaying placards while trooping near the Speaker's podium.
Speaker Om Birla later observed that all the parliamentarians from different parties have now agreed to hold discussion on the motion of thanks to the President's address, suggesting "you all should maintain the dignity of the House as you are the representatives of the people, so do not disrupt House proceedings".
Later, BJP MP from Hooghly, Locket Chatterjee resumed her speech on motion of thanks on President's address, listing the central government's various steps for the welfare of the people, from demonetisation to the work during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The actress-turned-politician also expressed grief on the demise of former President Pranab Mukherjee who passed away due to Covid-19 complications last year.
Launching a scathing attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Chatterjee said the leadership in the state should learn from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who imposed a nationwide lockdown to protect the people as well as maintained the economy at the same time.
Partly speaking in Bengali, Chatterjee said that the government's success rate is over 98 per cent in controlling the Covid-19 pandemic.
Besides, Chatterjee said, India has started its own Covid vaccination drive and has also dispatched lakhs of vaccine doses to various countries.
She thanked the Modi government for budgetary allocation to West Bengal in the Union Budget 2021-2022.
The MP also hit out at the West Bengal government for rejecting the Centre's education policy and ended her speech with a slogan of "Jai Shri Ram".
(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)
Source: IANS
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