'First time in history': Why Dhankhar blasted Kharge in RS

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday expressed anguish over Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge trooping into the Well of the House during an opposition protest, saying it is for the first time that a person occupying the post has engaged in such conduct.

On Friday, the House witnessed three adjournments due to protests and sloganeering by the opposition.

Soon after laying of the listed papers on the table of the House during the morning session, Dhankhar informed that he has not accepted 22 notices by the opposition leaders to suspend the scheduled business of the day and take up discussion on the alleged irregularities in the NEET.

This led to protest by the MPs of the opposition parties. They started raising slogans and several of them entered into the Well, leading to adjournment of the proceedings.

Just before the adjournment, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sudhanshu Trivedi had started speaking on the discussion on a motion to thank the President for her address to the joint sitting of Parliament.

When the House reassembled, there were almost similar scenes and the speech of Trivedi was disrupted.

At one point, Kharge too entered the Well of the House to join the opposition protest.

Dhankhar remarked that the act of coming into the Well by a leader of the opposition has happened for the first time in the history and become a 'stain' for Parliament.

"I am pained and surprised that Indian parliamentary tradition will stoop to such low that the leader of the opposition will troop into the Well," he said, before adjourning the proceedings till 2 pm.

Later again, he referred to the incident.

"The kind of conduct, ignoble conduct, a conduct that will hurt every Indian, will put this institution to shame. We are here elected, get the prestige of being members of the upper house, the house of elders. If in this House we conduct ourselves in this unruly manner, it is most unfortunate," the chairman said.

The House later took up the discussions on the motion of the thanks before adjourning for the day around 6 pm.

Kharge, menawhile, said he was forced to step in the Well of the House as Dhankhar did not allow him an opportunity to speak even as he raised his hand for a long time.

Blaming the Rajya Sabha Chairman for the incident, Kharge said that he went to the Well to get his attention.

Kharge told reporters outside the Parliament that he raised his hand for a long time and waited for the Chairman to notice him, but his focus was on the treasury benches.

He said that he was forced to go the the Well to get the Chairman's attention and accused him of disrespecting the MPs.

Kharge also said that the opposition wanted to raise the NEET issue as it affects lakhs of students, and did not want to disrupt the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took to X and said that Kharge was not the first Leader of Opposition to step in the Well of the House.

'It is being propagated that Mallikarjun Kharge ji is the first Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha to enter the well of the House in protest. Memories are short, especially when old rivals become new partners,' Ramesh said.

'On Aug 5 2019, the then Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad sat on the steps leading to the Chairman's presiding seat - which is very much part of the Well. This was when the Bills to abolish Article 370 and downgrade the status of J&K from a full-fledged state to a UT were being introduced,' he said.