New Delhi, December 13
After days of adjournments, the government today finally moved in the Rajya Sabha a Bill which seeks to provide for reservation to SCs/STs in promotion in government jobs but not before Samajwadi Party members created a ruckus and later walked out to register their protest against the legislation.

An incensed Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien even ordered two SP members to withdraw from the House as they continued to disobey the chair’s direction to return to their seats. The two members were Arvind Kumar Singh and Choudhry Munabbar Saleem.

As soon as the Chair asked Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy to introduce the Constitution (117th Amendment) Bill, seven of the nine SP members trooped into the well of the House, shouting “promotion mein aarakshan, nahin chalega, nahin chalega (we won’t allow reservation in promotion).”

The Deputy Chairman pleaded with the agitating SP members to go back to their seats but they refused to do so. As the din continued in the House, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath told the Deputy Chairman that the government would have no objection to any action he proposed to take against the members for obstructing the proceedings.

“You are testing my patience...go back to your seats or I will name you,” Kurien told the SP members but they were unrelenting. He then ordered Arvind Kumar Singh to withdraw from the House and adjourned it for 10 minutes.

When the House reassembled, the scene in the House was similar with the SP members in no mood to abide by the Chair’s instructions.

SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav pointed out that the Chair had ordered one of his party colleagues to withdraw from the House under Rule 255. He said it would be better if the Deputy Chairman took the sense of the House under Rule 256 whether the members belonging to his party should remain away from the proceedings of the House. But the Parliamentary Affairs Minister was not in agreement with the suggestion. Even the Deputy Chairman did not show any inclination to accede to Yadav’s request. As the ruckus continued, the House was again adjourned for a while.

But the adjournment also did not produce the desired result. The SP members continued with their protest, ignoring the Chair’s directives. This provoked the Deputy Chairman to name Choudhury Munabbar Saleem too. Ram Gopal Yadav got up to say that his party was of the view that the Bill was unconstitutional as it was aimed at setting aside a Supreme Court ruling. “This is against the wishes of the people, is high-handedness,” he said and announced that his party was walking out of the House in protest. The minister introduced the bill for consideration and passing by the House.