The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were on Friday adjourned indefinitely nearly a week ahead of schedule.
The Winter Session of Parliament started on December 7 and was scheduled to end on December 29. However, a decision was taken in the Business Advisory Committee, which manages the schedule of both the Houses and is headed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, to curtail the session, PTI reported.
Birla on Friday said that the Lok Sabha recorded a productivity rate of 97%, while Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar informed members that the Rajya Sabha recorded a 102% productivity rate.
During the session, Opposition parties repeatedly held protests demanding a discussion in Parliament on the border dispute between India and China after it emerged that clashes broke out between troops of the two countries at Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9.
The clash was the first between the soldiers of the two countries since the clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh in June 2020. The Galwan incident had led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers while China said it suffered four casualties.
Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, however, said that it is not good to rake up such sensitive issues in Parliament. He said that it was a convention to not discuss them in the House.
A controversy also erupted over Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s comments about the role of the Bharatiya Janata Party during India’s freedom movement.
“Has even your [BJP] dog at home died for the country?” Kharge had asked at a rally on Monday. “Still, they claim to be patriots and if we say something we are termed deshdrohi [anti-nationals].”
The BJP sought an apology from him in the Rajya Sabha, but the Congress leader refused to do so and doubled down on his comments.
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