ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

LS adjourned twice amid uproar on Babri Masjid

The Congress and other Opposition parties today forced two adjournments of the Lok Sabha, stalling proceedings on the seventh anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition.

Before the first adjournment between 1215 hours and 1400 hours, the Congress and other Opposition members had questioned the propriety of Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani replying to a question on Babri Masjid demolition.

They said since Advani was one of the accused in the case, he had no right to make a statement on it in the House.

Several members belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena objected to this and rushed to the well of the House. They were followed by several Opposition members all screaming at the top of their voice.

Speaker G M C Balayogi adjourned the House at 1215 hours after the members ignored his repeated requests to allow the proceedings to continue.

As soon as the House re-assembled at 1400 hours, the issue was again raised by the Opposition. Basudev Acharya (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and Priya Ranjan Das Munhsi (Congress) said since the home minister and three other ministers were accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case, they should resign and not accept any post in the government till they were cleared by the courts.

Das Munshi alleged that since the home minister himself was involved, the Central Bureau of Investigation was not seriously investigating the case.

When the Speaker called Anant Gite of the Shiv Sena to express his views there were vociferous protests from the Opposition benches over his contention that Babar was an invader. Amidst slogan shouting, he said Babar had demolished many places of worship. As the Opposition tried to drown his voice in the din, Balayogi adjourned the House till 1600 hours.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report