A passionate appeal from President Pranab Mukherjee to members of Parliament to stop disruptions for “god’s sake” did little to end the impasse in both Houses. The Opposition jointly observed a ‘Black Day’ on Thursday as the demonetisation exercise completed one month.

At a function here on Thursday, President Mukherjee told MPs that disruption was totally unacceptable in a Parliamentary system. “People send representatives to speak and not to sit on dharna and not to create any trouble on the floor,” he said while delivering a lecture on the occasion of Defence Estates Day.

“For demonstration, you [MPs] can choose any other places. But for God’s sake, do your job. You are meant to transact business. You are meant to devote your time for exercising the authority of members — particularly Lok Sabha members — over money and finance,” the President said. Senior BJP MP LK Advani had also lambasted both the Centre and at the Opposition for frequent disruptions on Wednesday.

‘Black Day observed’ Parliament, however, witnessed repeated adjournments on Thursday too, without transacting any major business. The Opposition sat on a dharna in front of the Parliament complex and held the Centre responsible for the House disruptions.

“The Prime Minister took this so-called bold decision. The bold decision can also be a foolish decision. And this was a foolish decision, it has devastated the country. More than 100 people have died. Farmers, fishermen, daily wage earners have been hit hard,” Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi told reporters after the protests. “There is this concept of PayTM. Pay to Modi, that’s the idea behind cashless economy. That is, a few people should get maximum benefit from cash transactions,” he added.

The Amethi MP said the responsibility of running the House was that of the government and the Speaker, not the Opposition. “We want to have a discussion. We want voting but the government does not. Because they knew that even BJP people will vote in our favour,” he said.

He said lay-offs were happening around the country. “Today I was told that L&T had laid off almost a lakh people. Farmers are dying. More than 100 people have died during this period and all this while Prime Minister seems to be having lot of fun. He is having a nice time,” he said.

‘House norms violated’ CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said the Prime Minister was singularly responsible for the problems due to demonetisation. He said the Centre was continuously violating parliamentary norms and practices.

“Even today, there was a clear violation as the waiver of service tax on credit and debit card transactions was made outside Parliament...No tax proposal can be made anywhere else but in Parliament,” Yechury said, and added that the Consolidated Fund of India will now get less service tax receipts because of the Prime Minister’s proposal. “It is completely against the norms and traditions of Parliament. I have renewed my contempt notice today and urged the Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari to consider it and give his ruling. A meeting of the Privileges Committee has been called tomorrow,” he added.

‘Onus on govt to run House’ Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Centre was not ready to pay homage to people who died in queues in front of banks. “This government is totally insensitive. It is a big scam in the name of demonetisation. BJP’s friends knew about this much earlier. On the other hand, a parallel business is thriving; the government is helping launder money,” he said.

When asked about the President’s statement, Azad said the responsibility of running the House lay with the government. “The Parliamentary Affairs Minister belongs to both Opposition and government. Here, a former Parliamentary Affairs Minister leads his party MPs to create disruptions. The Centre does not initiate any discussion. On the other hand, it provokes the Opposition. Ministers are busy giving statements against the Opposition,” he said.

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