The opposition continued its strident pitch on the alleged irregularities in the NEET examination with the Congress and other parties demanding a discussion on the floor of the house. With the government insisting on first completing the motion of thanks to the presidential address both houses were adjourned with the Lok Sabha adjourned till Monday, July 1, 11 AM.
Taking potshots at Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankar, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said “On entering the Well of Rajya Sabha, Rajya Sabha LoP Mallikarjun Kharge said, “It is his (Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar’s) mistake…I went inside to draw his attention. But even then he was not looking… I was drawing attention. He was only looking at the ruling party.
When I draw his attention as per the rules, he should look at me, but instead, he deliberately ignored me to insult me. So what was left for me? So to draw attention I would have to either go inside or shout very loudly. So I will say that it is Chairman Sahab’s mistake. I say that he should not do this and should maintain the dignity of this Rajya Sabha…There have been such big scams, the NEET exam, the paper has been leaked, and lakhs of children are worried. So to draw attention to the problem of people, we asked for a specific discussion.
We did not want to disturb anyone, we only wanted to raise the issues of the students…But he did not give it a chance, did not even pay attention to it and that is why we had to do this.”.
The situation escalated further as opposition members stormed the well of the upper house,
Expressing shock, Dhankar said, “Honourable Members, today has become so tainted in the history of the Indian Parliament that the Leader of the Opposition himself has come to the well. This has never happened before. I am pained, I am shocked. The Indian parliamentary tradition will deteriorate to such an extent that the Leader of the Opposition will come to the well, the Deputy Leader will come to the well.”
No business was conducted in the lower house with the Opposition holding strong on its demand for a discussion on NEET.
Newly elected MP Kangana Ranaut, commenting on the scene, criticized the opposition’s conduct and said, “You saw their conduct there. Speaker too rebuked them…But it seems that they (Opposition) are not ready to listen to anyone. We are here for the first time and we too were flummoxed as to what has happened…It felt bad to see them not letting anyone speak. Forgetting the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to President’s Address, they were acting arbitrarily…I don’t think such conduct should be acceptable.”
Congress MP Manish Tewari expressed disappointment that there was no discussion in the parliament on the NEET issue.
“There are two germane issues. The first is NEET where you have lakhs of students impacted as a result of the paper leak, and the second is those criminal laws which are to be implemented from 1st July 2024. So, an adjournment motion notice had been given on NEET by the INDIA Alliance partners. I had specifically given a notice concerning the criminal laws, that their implementation must be stopped. Unfortunately, this was not discussed,” Manish Tewari said.