With Opposition members continuing to disrupt Parliament over the alleged Pegasus snooping issue, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday said the controversy was a “non-issue” and that the government was ready for discussion on people-related issues. Calling the Opposition behaviour “unfortunate”, the Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister urged the protesting members to allow the House to function.
For the second consecutive week, there has been a deadlock in Parliament over the Pegasus saga and the issue of new farm laws. The Opposition created a ruckus in both the houses of Parliament on Friday, due to which the proceedings of Parliament were postponed till next week.
The ongoing monsoon session saw very little business. Data compiled by PRS Legislative show the Lok Sabha’s productivity has been only 14 per cent as it passed five bills in less than an hour. During the Budget Session earlier this year, the average time spent on a bill passed by the Lok Sabha was 2.5 hour. In comparison to the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha has fared slightly better and its productivity stands at 22 per cent.
Some Opposition parties, including the Congress, on Friday once again demanded a discussion on the Pegasus issue in Parliament, but the government said that Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnav had given a statement in Parliament on the subject, on which Opposition parties could still seek clarification.
Pralhad Joshi said in the Lower House that it is unfortunate that the House is not allowed to function and there are many such issues which are related to the public and the government is ready to discuss them.
As the proceedings began, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, said that the Opposition has been demanding a discussion on the Pegasus case since Day 1.
He said that along with this, the House must debate farm laws and Covid. The Opposition insisted that their protests inside Parliament would continue until the government held a full discussion on the Pegasus espionage issue.
In this case, there have been allegations of spying on journalists, businessmen, politicians, etc. On the demand of the Opposition to discuss the Pegasus spying case in the House, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said, “It is not an issue.”
Joshi said that the Opposition is not allowing the House to function for the last eight days by making excuses. He said, “We want to work on the issues related to the public which have been decided in the Business Advisory Committee. The government does not want any bill to be passed without discussion.” The Parliamentary Affairs Minister said, “There are many such issues which are related to the people and the government is ready to discuss them.”
He said that the question hour is the right of the members, there should not be a hindrance to it. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister said, “We are ready to work the way you (Lok Sabha Speaker) ask us to do.”
Pralhad Joshi said that Parliament is not being allowed to function and such conduct is unfortunate. He told reporters after the Lok Sabha was adjourned on Friday that the government had agreed that the Opposition parties could seek clarification after Vaishnav›s statement and that these parties could still do so.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur told reporters that parties like Congress and Trinamool Congress are wasting the time of Parliament due to political reasons. Thakur said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the government is ready to hold discussions on various issues. We want the Opposition to raise issues related to the people and the government will respond. But it is unfortunate that the opposition parties are creating ruckus and throwing papers at the chair and ministers.”
There was a deadlock between the ruling party and the Opposition in the Lok Sabha for the ninth day in the monsoon session on the issues of Pegasus espionage case and three central farm laws.
