Centre, Opposition still at odds on demonetisation

The ruckus over demonetisation crippled the proceedings of Parliament for the second consecutive day.

The treasury benches stormed to the well in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, demanding an apology from Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. The other opposition parties continued to press their demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi be present when the matter is being discussed in the Upper House.

They have also demanded that Modi apologise to the country for the miseries caused to the people.

In the Lok Sabha, too, the Opposition continued to demand that the matter be taken up for discussion under Rule 54 that entails division of votes, while the Centre insisted that the discussion can be taken up only under Rule 193.

The government had already ruled out Modi replying to the debate. “We have a competent Finance Minister to answer all the questions of the Opposition,” said senior Minister Venkaiah Naidu. The BJP believes the Opposition’s demand is just to ensure that the PM hears their criticism.

The Congress and its allies do not want Parliament to function and are shying away from a debate on demonetisation as the poor look at the PM as a “messiah” after the decision, Naidu added.

Sources in the government, however, said that things could be normalised from Monday.

“We are working a way out. The Opposition cannot continue to disrupt the proceedings for a longer period,” a Minister said. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar is holding informal parleys with leaders of various opposition parties for smooth conduct of business.

Earlier on Friday, both the Houses witnessed repeated adjournments. Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha PJ Kurien expressed his displeasure at the BJP members’ decision to walk to the aisles shouting slogans.

“The treasury bench members should help the Chair in conducting the House,” he said.

Congress members too rushed into the well, raising slogans demanding presence of the Prime Minister. AIADMK members continued to protest demanding the Centre’s intervention in the Cauvery water issue.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s statement repeating the expunged remarks made by Azad on Thursday further annoyed the opposition members. Naqvi’s remarks were later expunged by the Chair.

In his remarks, Azad had compared the deaths after demonetisation with those from the Uri terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, CPI leader Binoy Vishwam filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the introduction of the new ₹2,000 and ₹500 rupee notes with Devanagari script.

“The usage of Devanagari script is in contravention of Article 343(1) of the Constitution of India. A bank note is the symbol of a nation’s economy and there were debates in the Constituent Assembly after which it was decided that the numerals used are to be the international form of numerals and hence Article 343(1) is worded the way it is currently worded,” he said in a statement.

The Congress dared Modi to have a debate with the Opposition on demonetisation while accusing him of shying away from Parliament to avoid “facing the truth” when it was deliberating on the issue.

Senior party leader Anand Sharma charged Modi of committing “injustice” to the country and “spoiling” India’s image globally by taking such a huge decision without any preparation to implement it.

He said a Joint Parliamentary Committee must be appointed to probe the entire issue.

“No government can stoop to such level where people withdrawing their own money are being marked with ink. They are withdrawing their own money and not black money.

“Foreign tourists are also being similarly insulted if they go to banks,” he said.