New Delhi: Parties across the political divide found common cause to target the Mayawati government in the Lok Sabha Monday over the communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district, leading to a brief adjournment of the house where tabling of a key nuclear bill was deferred in view of the fierce opposition from the BJP and communists.
Members including from the Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) joined hands in the Lok Sabha against what they said was the worsening law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh.
They staged noisy protests, prompting Speaker Meira Kumar to adjourn the house till 2 p.m. When the house resumed, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav alleged that the administration in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)-ruled state was responsible for the violence.
"Even children are suffering because of the violence and the curfew. The central government should make a statement on this urgent matter," said the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
Congress MP Jagadambika Pal and Janata Dal-United's Sharad Yadav agreed and alleged that the Mayawati government had failed to curb the violence in Bareilly, where trouble was sparked off by a religious procession March 2. Parts of the district are under curfew since then.
Maneka Gandhi, BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh's Aonla constituency, demanded a judicial probe into the violence. "I want a judicial inquiry. The (central) government should step in."
Gandhi said she and her party colleagues Rajendra Aggarwal (Meerut MP) and Yogi Adityanath (Gorakhpur MP) were prevented by Uttar Pradesh police from reaching Bareilly Sunday.
Blaming the state government, she said the violence in Bareilly was only the "tip of the iceberg". "It is about the entire Uttar Pradesh, the heart of India. We have to wake up to this now."
However, the Left parties kept themselves away from the protests against Mayawati. The Communist Party of India-Marxist's P. Karunakaran said the culprits behind the violence should be punished. "We have taken it as a state issue."
Earlier, the government deferred the introduction of the nuclear liability bill apprehending trouble from the BJP and communist parties which are fiercely opposed to the legislation.
Though the bill featured in Monday's list of business, it was deleted at the last minute.
Speaker Meira Kumar said she had received an intimation from Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prithviraj Chavan that the "government doesn't intend to introduce the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill today".
The bill, which is key to making the India-US nuclear deal functional, seeks to limit the liability of a nuclear plant's operator in case of an accident at Rs.500 crore; if compensation is assessed to be more than this, the remainder amount is supposed to be paid by the government.
In the Rajya Sabha, barring the disruption over the riots in Bareilly district, relative peace prevailed.
The Rajya Sabha also revoked the suspension of SP members - Veerpal Singh Yadav, Nand Kishore Yadav, Amir Alam Khan and Kamal Akhtar - against whom action was taken for their unruly behaviour over the women's bill last week.
The four SP members were suspended last Tuesday along with Subhash Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Ejaz Ali of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Sabir Ali of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) following protests against the bill that seeks to reserve 33 percent seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures for women.
After the motion for revoking the suspension was moved, Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan announced that the suspension of four members had been "terminated".
The four SP members had last week met Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari along with other party leaders. Opposition parties had been demanding that the suspension of all seven members be revoked.
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