Major ruckus in Parliament over 'Cong-Soros' link

Proceedings of both Houses of Parliament were disrupted on Monday as the treasury benches accused top Congress leaders of colluding with billionaire investor George Soros to destabilise the country, triggering protests from opposition members.

Rajya Sabha

The Upper House witnessed three adjournments, including two during the pre-lunch session.

Soon after the House assembled for the day, it witnessed uproarious scenes with members of treasury benches on their feet, raising slogans and demanding answers from the Congress over reports of alleged links of some of its top leaders with Soros, who they accused of conspiring to destabilise the country and its economy.

Soon after a brief first adjournment during Zero Hour, Leader of the House J P Nadda said BJP members were agitated over an issue that involved Congress leaders and wanted a discussion.

"The link between Forum of Democratic Leaders in the Asia-Pacific (FDL-AP) and George Soros is a matter of concern. Its co-president is a member of this House," he said.

Nadda alleged the FDL-AP sees Jammu and Kashmir as a 'separate entity' and gets financial support from the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

As Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar sought to know why the ruling party members were protesting, many BJP MPs alleged that the top Congress leadership has links with Soros.

They demanded that the issue be discussed in the House as it is connected to national security.

Several MPs of the BJP and the National Democratic Alliance raised the issue and demanded an immediate discussion on it while Congress members claimed this was being done to divert attention from the Adani issue.

Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Mallikarjun Kharge and other Congress leaders like Jairam Ramesh and Pramod Tiwari asked how the chairman was allowing the ruling party members to raise the issue when he had rejected their notices in this regard.

"It is wrong to raise the issue like this and damage the image of a member, who is not in the House," Kharge said.

He also read out rules whereby any member cannot raise such an issue against another member, following which the chairman asked which member he was referring to.

"We did not expect this from you," Congress' Digvijaya Singh told the Chair.

Congress' Pramod Tiwari alleged the ruling party MPs were siding with Adani and disturbing the House for him.

"The BJP is doing all this to protect Adani," he said.

BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said if the LoP was referring to another member, it becomes clear that the reports of involvement of a member are true, as the ruling party has not named anyone.

BJP's Radha Mohan Das Aggarwal said party MPs have not named any party and will speak during the discussion on how Congress leaders are colluding with elements of 'deep state' and Soros to destabilise the country and break it into pieces.

"We want a discussion on this serious issue as they want to create instability in the country. These anti-nationals should be exposed before the country. Terror and anti-national activities are being carried out in the country at the behest of such forces and they should be exposed," he said.

The Congress, he claimed, was seen standing with such forces as it supported agitations in the country.

On the BJP's allegations about former Congress president Sonia Gandhi's links to an organisation financed by Soros, party MP Ghanshyam Tiwari said it is very bad for the country and its unity.

"We want that there should be a discussion on the issue as it is linked to the issue of national security," he said.

Brij Lal of the BJP alleged Rahul Gandhi's trips abroad are funded by Soros.

"When Rahul Gandhi travels abroad, George Soros funds him and there is an anti-India campaign. We want a discussion on the relationship between George Soros and Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi," he said.

Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya of the Communist Party of India-Marxist said if the treasury benches raise the issue, "then it is their failure".

"Why can't the prime minister come and make a statement... This is an accusation to protect (hide) their failure. Total disruption to protect their failure," he said.

John Brittas of the CPI-M said, "Let there be a discussion on George Soros and Adani together on the floor of the House."

Communist Party of India's Sandosh Kumar P said, "This is a calculated move to save Adani, to divert attention."

Amid the din, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said the House was not in order and adjourned it till 3 pm.

Earlier, BJP's Laxmikant Bajpayee was given the floor to raise his Zero Hour mention and he started speaking on the issue of national security.

Congress' Jairam Ramesh objected to his remarks, saying when the Chair has rejected notices under Rule 267, then the issues mentioned therein should not be allowed to be raised.

"This is most unfair. You have rejected the notice, all notices... He is raising an issue which you have rejected. And it is very clear, this is all part of a game plan to raise this issue and have this entire House adjourned. Sir, please don't be party to this," Ramesh said.

Earlier, Dhankhar said he has rejected all 11 notices received under Rule 267 seeking to set aside business of the day to take up the issue being raised in the notices.

Five MPs of the BJP and its allies -- BJP's Sudhanshu Trivedi, Kavita Patidar and Laxmikant Bajpai, G K Vasan of Tamil Maanila Congress, and Janata Dal-United's Sanjay Kumar Jha -- gave notices under Rule 267.

Lok Sabha

When the House met at 11 am after the weekend, the opposition members were on their feet, trying to raise their issues. A visibly agitated Speaker Om Birla asked the MPs to go back to their seats and allow the House to function.

"Question Hour is significant. Allow the House to function properly. But you don't want to allow the House to run. The country wants the House to run. You are disrupting the proceedings of the House," he told the protesting members and adjourned the House till 12 noon.

The noisy protests again forced an adjournment till 2 pm and then till 3 pm, before the proceedings were wrapped for the day.

As soon as the House re-convened at noon, Congress members trooped into the well of the Lok Sabha raising slogans against the government. They were soon joined by Samajwadi Party members.

Congress members were also heard saying that they had submitted notices to move a privilege motion against BJP member Nishikant Dubey for attempts to link Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi with US-based billionaire George Soros-backed outfits allegedly involved in anti-India activities.

Opposition members raised slogans like 'Modi Sarkar down down', 'Modi Sarkar shame shame' and 'we want justice', as BJP member Sandhya Ray, who was in the chair, took up tabling of parliamentary papers.

Opposition members from the Trinamool Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal were seen standing in the aisle or near their seats in support of the protest.

TMC members, including Saugatha Roy, Kalyan Banerjee and Mahua Moitra, were sitting on their seats.

SP member Dharmendra Yadav also raised the issue of farmers. He was heard saying "Pure desh ka kisan pareshan hai".

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi was present in the House during the protests.

After the parliamentary papers were tabled in the House, Ray informed the House that notices given by Congress leaders were under consideration by Birla.

As the protests continued, the Chair adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm but the scenes were no different when the House met again.

Ray, who was in the chair, asked Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnav to respond on the Rail (Amendment) Bill 2024. However, the opposition protests continued following which the proceedings were adjourned for an hour again.

The opposition was unrelenting and Ray adjourned the House for the day after it met at 3.

The proceedings of the House were washed out in the first week of the winter session starting November 25 due to protests by opposition members demanding discussion on issues like the indictment of industrialist Gautam Adani in a US court and Sambhal violence.

Last week, the House functioned properly for only two days -- Tuesday and Wednesday.