Rajya Sabha adjourned for 15 minutes during Zero Hour amid ruckus

New Delhi, March 25

Proceedings of the Rajya Sabha were adjourned for 15 minutes during Zero Hour on Friday following the Opposition's protest over BJP lawmaker Rupa Ganguly's remark on the Birbhum incident.

Raising the Birbhum issue during the 'Zero Hour', BJP MP Rupa Ganguly accused the West Bengal government of inaction to prevent the incident. She said that of the eight people killed, two were children.

The TMC Members strongly objected to it and started shouting and protesting leading to a pandemonium in the House.

Allegations and counter-allegations continued for a while despite Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh who was on the Chair trying to bring order in the House.

The Chair tried to restore the order and repeatedly asked all members to restore peace in the House. Some Opposition Members also rushed into the well.

When his repeated requests for for peace went in vain, he adjourned the House for 15 minutes.

Earlier, during the Zero Hour, BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi urged the government to abolish the quota system in the admission of the students in these schools.

He said that around 30,000 admissions in Kendriya Vidyalayas are done on the basis of MPs quota and on the Chairman of the management committee for these schools.

The Scheduled Castes (SC) or the Scheduled Tribes (ST) or the Other Backward Classes (OBC), he said, don't get reservation through these quota which also violates the constitutional provisions.

Noting that 10 seats can be filled by one Member of Parliament in these schools, he said: "We are overwhelmed by requests. I demand that this privilege of MPs should be removed."