Silenced once again: Congress

Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and other Congress MPs during a protest over Adani issue, at Parliament, on Friday. Pic/PTI

"Slogans were shouted--let Rahul ji speak... let him speak.. let him speak. Then [Speaker] Om Birla smiled and the House fell silent. Is this democracy?" the Congress asked on Friday, alleging that the former party chief was not allowed to speak in Parliament once again.

Sansad TV, which telecast the proceedings live, was inaudible and one could hear the proceedings only intermittently. According to an NDTV report, the audio was back on after 20 minutes, when the speaker adjourned the Lok Sabha proceedings for the day. The BJP said the audio did not work because of a technical fault.

As soon as the Lok Sabha assembled for the day, some Congress members trooped to the Well of the House shouting slogans and demanded that Gandhi be allowed to speak in the House over his remarks in the UK. In a tweet, the Congress alleged that the proceedings were "muted" when its MPs raised slogans demanding that Gandhi be allowed to speak.

Also Read: If democracy is still alive, I will be allowed to speak in Parliament: Rahul Gandhi

Quoting this tweet, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted: "Claims to be democracy but in fact it is dictatorship." This was for the fifth consecutive day that the House did not function ever since the second half of the budget session began on March 13.

The Congress on also alleged Friday that the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has lifted additional surveillance on some Adani Group company stocks. "Why is SEBI allowing index investors to take on additional exposure to Adani Group stocks when financial advisors, who generally wealthier investors can afford, have been advising their clients to avoid investing in Adani Group stocks?" asked party leader Jairam Ramesh.

Cong gives privilege notice over PM's surname remark

Congress leader K C Venugopal on Friday gave Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar a breach of privilege notice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks on why former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's family did not use his surname. The PM, he said, knows very well that daughters don't take the surname of the father after marriage. "Despite knowing that, he deliberately mocked... The tone and tenor of the remark is insinuating and derogatory in nature. This clearly amounts to casting reflections upon Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi by the prime minister, which breaches upon their privileges and also tantamounts to contempt of the house," he said.

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