The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha witnessed dramatic scenes on Friday (June 28) after vice president and Rajya Sabha chairperson Jagdeep Dhankar accused leader of opposition and Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge of “tainting” the parliament’s history by storming the well of the House, and opposition members lashing out for continuing the session after Congress MP Phulo Devi Netam fainted.
The Congress and other opposition parties had moved a total of 22 adjournment motions demanding a discussion on the recent paper leaks in the NEET and UGC NET examinations, as well as the National Testing Agency (NTA) that conducts these exams.
When the session started opposition demanded a discussion before the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address leading to repeated adjournments.
When the House reconvened after noon, opposition members stormed the well of the House in protest demanding a discussion on NEET.
“Today is such a tainted day in the history of the Indian Parliament that the Leader of the Opposition himself has come to the Well. This has never happened before. I am pained, I am shocked. The Indian parliamentary tradition will deteriorate to such an extent that the Leader of the Opposition will come to the Well, the Deputy Leader will come to the Well,” said Dhankar.
Later Kharge told reporters outside parliament that the Rajya Sabha chairman’s attitude towards the opposition had tainted the history of the Indian parliament.
“We wanted to raise the voice of lakhs of youth affected by the NEET scam by discussing it in the House under Rule 267. So to draw attention to the problem of the people, we asked for a special discussion. We did not want to trouble anyone. We only wanted to raise the issues of the students. But they did not give it a chance, did not pay any attention to it,” he said.
“I would like to tell the Rajya Sabha Chairman that his step-motherly treatment towards the Opposition today has ‘tainted the history of Indian Parliament’!”
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter) that it is being wrongly alleged that Kharge is the first leader of the opposition to storm the well of the House in protest.
“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. I should know — I sat next to him.”
Opposition walks out after Congress MP faints
While the House was adjourned till 2 PM, when it reconvened opposition MPs continued to demand a discussion on NEET as BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi moved the motion to debate the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address.
Congress MP Phulo Devi Netam, who was recovering from Dengue, meanwhile fainted during the opposition’s protest and was taken away to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. The opposition subsequently staged a walkout.
“They (NDA government) are not showing any mercy and they are continuing to run the House. So, we have walked out in protest because she (Congress MP Phulo Devi Netam) became unconscious, fell on the floor and there was such lack of concern from the government,” said TMC MP Sagarika Ghose to PTI.
DMK MP Tiruchi Siva said that he had never witnessed the house continuing to function after an MP fainted.
“Phulo Devi (Netam) from the Congress party suddenly fainted and her blood pressure is 214/113, which may even lead to a stroke. Even after that, they are resuming the debate. I have never seen this in two decades in the parliament. The chair used to listen to the opposition parties and treated both sides equally. There was a balance between the opposition and Treasury benches. Even after such an incident, the House is functioning,” he said.
Later opposition MPs of the INDIA alliance visited Netam in the hospital.
BJD joins Opposition protest
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), a former ally of the BJP in parliament, also joined the opposition parties in protesting against NEET including staging a walkout after Netam fainted.
“BJD MPs along with the entire Opposition walked out in protest from Rajya Sabha now after the demand for adjournment of House was not done despite Hon’ble RS MP Smt. Phulo Devi Netam fainting in the well of the House during the protest,” BJD MP Sasmit Patra said in a statement.
While the BJD had not been a formal ally of the BJP, in the previous two BJP-led governments it had supported the Modi government inside parliament supporting key legislations.
In the 2024 Odisha assembly elections, the BJP trounced the BJD ending over two decades of Naveen Patnaik’s rule, and the formation of the first BJP government in the state.