In an unusual twist, Rajya Sabha's Congress members are planning to write a letter of complaint to the Chairman of the House, M Venkaiah Naidu, about the chairman himself. This comes after a stormy session in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
The Congress MPs along with other Opposition parties are writing the letter to complain that "the Chairman has been unfair to them," alleging that they were not given enough time to speak on the National Register For Citizen (NRC). The debate had forced Naidu to adjourn the house for the day on two occasions.
The final call on the letter will be taken by Ghulam Nabi Azad, the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Five MPs are expected to sign the letter. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is an MP from Assam has skipped the protest and will not sign the letter.
The Opposition proposed the idea after a stormy session in the House, where they were targeting BJP chief Amit Shah over his statements. Shah called out the Congress' inability to implement the NRC when Rajiv Gandhi signed the Assam Accords in 1985, saying the party was more concerned about its vote banks than national security.
Anand Sharma then led a Congress motion to force Amit Shah to apologise for insulting the former prime minister, but the ruling party members rose to defend Shah. Naidu also dismissed the opposition's demand for more time to discuss the NRC after the House reconvened.
Frustrated by the lack of support, the MPs have decided to file a protest against Naidu's ruling, which as per procedure will be sent to the Chairman.
The first draft of the Assam NRC, which was tabled in the Parliament earlier this week faced heavy criticism from the opposition after close to 40 lakh names were left out of the list. The Prime Minister is expected to chair a high-level meeting to resolve the issue, that is now being debated in the Lok Sabha.
