Opposition cries foul over suspending ‘Question Hour’ in RS too

Sep 14, 2020
New Delhi: After an uproar in the Lok Sabha, the Opposition on Monday objected to cancellation of Question Hour in the upper house as well.

Trinamool Congress Party’s Derek O’Brien objected to the cancellation of question hour, while claiming that it is the heart of democracy. History shows that it has never happened before in a regular session, he added.

“It has only taken place during a war or the Emergency or during smaller sessions of 2-3 days. It is the Opposition’s right and the government’s move strikes at the very heart of parliamentary democracy,” he remarked while moving an amendment to the motion proposed by Union Minister Pralhad Joshi.

In fact, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad also raised a similar pitch when he said that people of India have been “deprived” by removing the Question Hour. The motion to carry the amendment was defeated.

Earlier, the government’s decision to suspend Question Hour triggered widespread outrage among the opposition parties on the opening day of the Monsoon Session on Monday with lawmakers saying the move was an attempt to “strangulate democracy”, in Lok Sabha as well.

The Opposition parties accused the government of using the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to do away with any form of accountability.

Raising the issue of Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Congress leader of the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had said: “scrapping of the Question Hour is equal to preventing legislators from raising matters of national importance.”IANS