Lok Sabha adjourned following protests

Agencies

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha was adjourned till noon Thursday following protests from various parties on different issues.

A large number of MPs trooped into the well of the house as soon as the proceedings began at 11 a.m., forcing Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to adjourn the house at 11:15 a.m.

While Dalit MPs of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) were protesting against the SC/ST (Reservation in Post and Services) Bill 2008, MPs of MDMK and PMK rushed to the well of the house protesting the policy of the government over the civil war in Sri Lanka.

The bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha during the last session and the government was planning to introduce it in the Lok Sabha.

The speaker tried repeatedly to pacify the agitating members and at one point of time said: 'You are insulting the people of the country and wasting public money. You are behaving in a condemnable manner'.

Others who joined the protest on various issues also included MPs of Telugu Desam Party from Andhra Pradesh over the Satyam scam. Republican Party of India MP Ramdas Athwale also joined the BJP and BSP protest.

The Centre is aware that a controversy can put it on a sticky wicket in upcoming elections and would be under pressure to tweak the legislation accordingly.

The meeting in Parliament House on Tuesday also demanded that the word “merit” be deleted from the bill as it had no legal definition. Instead, it demanded that an objective eligibility criteria be mentioned.

National Commission for SCs, led by Buta Singh, had called on President Pratibha Patil and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Friday to protest against Reservation for SC/ST (Posts and Services) Bill 2008, which aims to put together executive orders governing reservation into a law.