Lok Sabha adjourned over Assam, Mumbai and black money

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha was adjourned till Tuesday after opposition members raised a ruckus over the violence in Assam and its echoes in Mumbai.

The house was earlier adjourned till 2pm over the issue. As soon as it reassembled, Shiv Sena members rushed to the well demanding dismissal of the Maharashtra government headed by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan over the Mumbai violence.

Deputy Speaker Karia Munda, who was in the chair, rushed through the list of business and adjourned the house for the day amid slogans raised by the Sena members.

Earlier, Shiv Sena member Anant Geete raised the issue of Saturday’s violence in Mumbai that claimed two lives and left over 50 people injured. The Shiv Sena demanded a statement from the government. Congress member Sanjay Nirupam countered Geete by saying that the Maharashtra government was taking action.

However, angry opposition members refused to be placated and they rushed to the speaker’s podium. The Shiv Sena members were waving copies of the Sena mouthpiece, Saamna, on the Mumbai violence.

There was heated exchange of words between the treasury benches and the opposition when Nirupam defended the Maharashtra government and said action was being taken against the guilty in the Mumbai violence.

Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the house at 12.45 p.m. till 2 p.m. amid uproarious scenes.

In the morning, during the question hour, the house was adjourned at 11.15 a.m. till 12 noon after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members demanded that black money stashed abroad be brought back.

In the Rajya Sabha, BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu raised the issue when zero hour began. Criticising the government, he said: “Even the CBI director has raised the issue, which shows the seriousness of the issue. With that money we can solve several problems of the country. But the government has not come forward with any solution.”

CBI director A.P. Singh had said earlier that an estimated $5 billion of illegal money was stashed in foreign banks.

“People are agitating, they are going to march to parliament. People expect government to address the issue,” he said.

The opposition members demanded a response from the government. Deputy Leader of the Opposition Ravishankar Prasad asked the government to give a time limit for bringing back black money from abroad.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni assured the opposition that a discussion would be taken up, adding that the government was taking steps to address the issue.

“When a discussion takes place, we will comment on the time bound steps,” Soni said.

“We brought the white paper on black money, a few days back the finance minister has made an elaborate statement on steps being taken,” she said amid uproar from the opposition.

Dissatisfied opposition members, however, started raising slogans.

Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the house after BJP members refused to allow the proceedings to be run and rushed to the speaker’s podium.

They kept shouting when Minister for Social Justice Mukul Wasnik was replying on the issue of manual scavenging.

Wasnik said the government was bringing a new bill and would do everything to end the practice, but his reply was drowned in the ruckus.

This provoked Speaker Meira Kumar to say that she would have liked if the members had participated in the discussion related to the issue.

The BJP’s agitation in the lower house on the issue of comes as yoga guru Baba Ramdev has threatened a “revolution” unless the government brings back black money stashed abroad.