During the debate on the Union Budget in Rajya Sabha on Friday, chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar lost his cool over Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala and asked him to leave the chamber.
The scene happened after Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan responded to some queries on the budgetary provisions vis-à-vis farmers. Some members of the opposition started protesting, labeling the Modi government as 'insensitive' towards the concerns of farmers.
The Chairman made repeated attempts to bring order by beseeching the MPs to let the minister complete his speech. He told Surjewala to listen patiently, and his remarks would not be recorded. He also asked Surjewala to take his seat a number of times, but the clamour did not stop. In return, Dhankhar stood up in his seat and asked the MPs to get settled.
As his irritation continued to grow, Dhankhar chided Surjewala for becoming part of the pandemonium in a discussion that was supposed to centred around farmers and asked, "Is this how you are standing with the farmers?" while making a direct assertion to Surjewala and his colleague, Congress MP, Shaktisinh Gohil: "End this disruption. You cannot insult farmers this way. You cannot insult the chair like this. This will not be allowed. You have to get out of the House."
As a result, the question of MSP rocked the Rajya Sabha session, with a belligerent Dhankhar pulling up Congress MPs, including Jairam Ramesh, over the insistence on causing disruption in the House. The ruling party MPs have attributed the turmoil to the anger of the opposition over the Agriculture Minister taking such a stand that it would hamstring the proceedings of Parliament.
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