Injustice done to home minister, says Venkaiah Naidu

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha on Thursday was adjourned for the day after Trinamul Congress (TMC) members kept demanding a reply from Union minister Rajnath Singh over the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam issue.

However, chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu said that Mr Singh had waited for three days but could not reply to the discussion amid slogan shouting and the uproar created by Opposition members. Mr Naidu’s request that the listed discussion on minimum support prices for Kharif crops and challenges in the agricultural sector — which was to be initiated by BJP national president Amit Shah — should be taken up and the home minister could reply later, went unheeded, with the TMC members trooping into the Well of the House.

“A very wrong message has gone... I also feel that injustice has been done to the home minister because even after patiently hearing all the views on an important and sensitive issue, he could not reply. Why did it happen, I do not want to get into all that now,” said Mr Naidu.

He also said that the issue was discussed in the morning meeting and Congress’ Anand Sharma gave a suggestion that the home minister’s reply should take place in the House.

Mr Naidu said that Mr Sharma had also suggested that the parliamentary affairs minister should talk to opposition parties and the home minister on the issue.

Speaking on the issue, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar said, “The subject is very sensitive and is of national interest... Serious views were expressed and I think it is in the larger interest of the nation that we hear the home minister and know exactly what the government is doing.”