India News | No Question Hour in Parliament's Monsoon Session; Oppn Cries Foul

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) There will be no Question Hour, a curtailed Zero Hour and no private members' bills during the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats have decided, prompting opposition leaders to accuse the government of trying to "murder the democracy" in the name of the COVID-19 pandemic and reducing "Parliament to a notice board".

The government, however, said it is not running away from any debate and provisions are being made for allowing written answers for the questions put up by MPs.

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In separate notifications, the two secretariats also said there will be no breaks as well during the session to be held from September 14 to October 1, and both Houses will function on Saturdays and Sundays as well.

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the session will be held in two shifts -- 9 AM to 1 PM and 3 PM to 7 PM.

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Except for the first day, the Rajya Sabha will sit in the morning shift and the Lok Sabha will sit in the evening, according to the notifications.

"There will be no Question Hour during the Session. In view of the request of the government owing to the prevailing extraordinary situation due to COVID-19, the Speaker has directed that no day be fixed for the transaction of Private Members' Business during the Session," the Lok Sabha Secretariat said in a notification.

A similar notification was issued by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat as well.

While several opposition parties criticised the move, sources said that provisions are being made to facilitate written answers to questions from the members of both the houses.

The BJP also took a swipe at the Congress over its criticism of the Union government for not having the Question Hour, saying it is amusing to see that those who "don't have power" to question their own party president are creating a "fake narrative" on this issue.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told PTI that the government is not running away from any debate and that all opposition parties were told beforehand about the move with most of them agreeing to it.

Later in a tweet, he said everyone except Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien had agreed to the arrangement of not holding the Question Hour.

"Also, looking at Covid risks, everyone has agreed on cutting short Zero Hour to half an hour," Joshi tweeted, while adding that the government was looking for cooperation from all parties when the country is going through an unprecedented situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government is ready for unstarred questions and it has requested presiding officers of both the Houses to facilitate the same, he said.

Unstarred questions are those to which written answers are given by ministers, while 'starred questions' are those to which answers are desired to be given orally on the floor of the House during the Question Hour.

Sources later said a decision has been taken to allow the 'unstarred questions'.

Rajya Sabha member and BJP media head Anil Baluni said that the uproar caused by opposition members over the Question Hour suspension is nothing but a "masterclass in hypocrisy".

Unstarred questions, answers to which are given to members in a written form, will be allowed, he added.

BJP sources also said that the government is considering whether the Question Hour can be accommodated in the session.

Underlining that the monsoon session is being held in unprecedented circumstances in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Joshi said officers from ministries would have to come to Parliament if the Question Hour is held and that can make the place crowded.

Therefore, for the safety of members, it was decided that there will be no Question Hour during the monsoon session, the minister said.

There will be a Zero Hour of at least 30 minutes, he said.

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and the party's deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma, however, said that the proposal to exclude Question hour during this session is arbitrary and undemocratic as it is the members' right to ask questions to the government on key issues.

Trinamool Congress MP and Floor Leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O' Brien said opposition MPs will lose the right to question the government and alleged that the pandemic was being used as an "excuse to murder democracy."

In the past, he said, the Question Hour was dispensed with during sessions of Parliament called for special purposes but the upcoming monsoon session is a "regular session".  

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has called up several opposition leaders, including Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chowdhury, Biju Janata Dal's Pinaki Misra and O'Brien.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor tweeted that he had said four months ago that "strongmen leaders would use the excuse of the pandemic to stifle democracy and dissent".

"The notification for the delayed Parliament session blandly announces there will be no Question Hour. How can this be justified in the name of keeping us safe?

"Questioning the government is the oxygen of parliamentary democracy. This Govt seeks to reduce Parliament to a notice-board and uses its crushing majority as a rubber-stamp for whatever it wants to pass. The one mechanism to promote accountability has now been done away with," he tweeted.

The Congress party also tweeted separately that questioning the government is the "life-blood of parliamentary democracy".

CPI MP Binoy Viswam has also written to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Nadu, saying that suspension of Question Hour and Private Members' business is "unjust" and they must be reinstated immediately.

He said that the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown had brought an abrupt end to the Parliamentary session in March.

"Since then the Parliament has been in a state of suspension while crucial developments continue to take place across the country," Viswam said in a statement.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)