From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Opposition walked out from both the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday causing disruptions for a while on the chairs refusing it to seek clarifications on the Chinese aggression in Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s reply on how the Indian Army pushed back the PLA forces to their location.
Both the Houses were also adjourned in the morning due to pandemonium on the Opposition raising the issue and wanting the discussion. The defence minister first made a statement in the Lok Sabha at 12 noon and the identical statement later at 12.30.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla refused clarifications, noting that there is no such a provision in the House. Instead, he wanted the entire House to praise the Indian Army for their bravery, but he did not allow discussion to enable the Opposition do so.
In the Rajya Sabha, deputy chairman Harivansh quoted four past matters when the members skipped the clarification since they were sensitive and hence he wanted the House gto support the Army in one voice. The opposition, led by its leader Mallikarjun Kharge, agitated for ten minutes and then staged a walk out.
The two Houses were adjourned in the morning since the Opposition members staged protest on not being allowed to discuss the matter even before the defence minister’s statement.
In his statement, the defence minister said the Chinese troops had entered Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, but they went back to their location on the Chinese side after a flag meeting on December 11 and the peace now prevails on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which is the border with China.
He said there were injuries on both sides, but no death. India raised the issue also through the diplomatic channel, he said, urging both the Houses to support the Indian Army.
The opposition members also tried to raise the Chinese aggressions in Ladakh since April 2020, but without success. Kharge condemned the government for remaining silent on the Chinese intrusions since 2020 and asserted that the Chinese got encouragement from a statement by Prime Minister Modi on June 20, 2020 that no one has entered the Indian territory.
When Congress member P Chidambaram sought a clarification from the chair whether there will be a discussion or not after the defence minister’s statement, deputy chairman Harivansh shot back: “What kind of discussion? Understand the sensitivity of the issue.”
Alongwith Rajya Sabha leader of House Piyush Goyal, Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that no one will be allowed to take a single inch of the Indian land and embarrassed the Congress by reminding the Chinese success in the border dispute in 1962 during Jawaharlal Nehru time.
