On Monday, Members of Parliament gathered in Delhi to mark the 250th sitting of Rajya Sabha as the winter session began. The winter session is from November 18 to December 13.
At around 10. 25 AM, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media on the maiden day of Winter Session. “We are open to discussions on all issues,” the Prime Minister said. He appealed to all the members to maintain dignity and quality in debates going to be held in the session.
The session began with Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu reading out obituary references to Sudhir Ray, Raja Paramasivam, Sushma Swaraj, Jagannath Mishra, Arun Jaitley, Sukhdev Singh Libra, Ram Jethmalani, Naramalli Sivaprasad, B.L. Sharma ‘Prem’ and Gurudas Das Gupta.
Chairman Venkaiah Naidu spoke on the “unique role” of the Rajya Sabha. He mentioned the passage of the The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill and the UAPA Bill in 2019, alongside other Bills passed by the House through the years.
He thanked all the members, panel chairpersons, Ministers, leaders of various parties and other persons who contributed to the journey of the Rajya Sabha.
To mark the landmark 250th session of Rajya Sabha, celebratory functions included release of a publication titled ‘Rajya Sabha: The Journey since 1952’ providing glimpses of various aspects of functioning of the House and its Hindi version.
Also, a commemorative volume on the evolution of Rajya Sabha and its functioning with 44 articles in Hindi and English by the sitting and former members and those associated with the functioning of the House was released.
There were discussions held in the House on the ‘Role of Rajya Sabha in Indian Polity: Need for Reform’ on the first working day. A silver coin of Rs 250 and a postal stamp of Rs 5 were also released. The uniform of the marshals of the Rajya Sabha also underwent a change.
The first day began with Opposition taking an active role in expressing disagreements. The Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi made a symbolic protest against government inaction on pollution in from of Gandhi statue inside Parliament complex.
Question Hour continued in Lok Sabha despite consistent slogan shouting from the Opposition Benches.
The Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena Monday sought a discussion on the “economic crisis” in the country after the winter session of Parliament began on a stormy note with the Opposition benches raising slogans over the situation in Jammu-Kashmir. A notice was submitted to Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu by the two parties.
Earlier to this, the Opposition also demanded Farooq Abdullah be allowed to attend the House session, saying it was his constitutional right. MPs from the Congress, National Conference and the DMK protested in the well of Lok Sabha. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena staged a walkout over farm distress in Maharashtra.
The opposition-led by the Congress came to the well of the house and were joined by DMK, NCP leaders. Slogans like “Tanhashaai band Karo” (urging the government to stop muzzling the opposition) and “we want justice,” were chanted by the members demanding the release of National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.
