Lok Sabha adjourned till 2 pm amid protests by Opposition

PTI, Dec 19, 2024, 11:35 AM IST

New Delhi: Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 2 pm on Thursday following noisy protests by the Opposition seeking an apology from Home Minister Amit Shah for his remarks on B R Ambedkar.

As soon as the House met, opposition members were on their feet raising their voices and staging protests.

Speaker Om Birla tried to pacify them and announced the demise of former union minister E V K S Elangovan, who was a member of the Lok Sabha from Tamil Nadu.

After he paid tributes to the departed leader, the House observed silence for sometime.

As soon as the obituary reference was over, the opposition members again staged noisy protests. Birla immediately adjourned the House till 2 pm.

A massive political row erupted on Wednesday as the Congress and other opposition parties launched an all-out attack on Home Minister Shah for his remarks on Ambedkar and demanded his sacking, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders rallied to Shah’s defence and said he has exposed Congress’ “anti-Ambedkar” stand.

As opposition parties unitedly protested against Shah and stalled both houses of Parliament, alleging that his remarks had insulted Ambedkar and demanding his apology, Shah said the Congress had distorted his comments under a malicious campaign after the discussion on the Constitution “established” that the opposition party was against Ambedkar and reservation.

Prime Minister Modi hit out at the Congress, saying its “rotten ecosystem” and “malicious lies” cannot hide its misdeeds and said the home minister had exposed the opposition party’s “dark history of insulting” Ambedkar.