Parliament logjam enters fourth day as Opposition digs in over NEET row
Both Houses adjourned without business as Opposition demands Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation; government says it is ready for debate
Parliament remained paralysed for a fourth consecutive day on Thursday, 23 July as persistent protests by the Opposition over the NEET paper leak and its demand for Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation forced repeated adjournments in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
With neither side willing to budge, both Houses were adjourned for the day without transacting any business. Outside Parliament, Opposition and NDA MPs held rival demonstrations and exchanged slogans, underlining the widening political standoff.
In a significant development, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla during the day. TMC MPs Saugata Roy and Mahua Moitra were also present. Later, Union home minister Amit Shah held a separate one-on-one meeting with Birla. There was no official word on the discussions.
Earlier, during question hour, Birla appealed to Opposition members to allow proceedings to continue, assuring them that the government was prepared to discuss every issue, including the NEET controversy, immediately afterwards.
"The Question Hour is the most important. After the Question Hour, the House is ready to discuss every issue. I will speak to the government, and the government is also ready for discussions," Birla said, urging members to participate in the debate.
The appeal went unheeded as Opposition MPs trooped into the Well of the House, raising slogans over the NEET paper leak and police action against student protesters. The Lok Sabha was first adjourned within minutes of assembling and later witnessed repeated disruptions before being adjourned for the day.
Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju accused the Opposition of avoiding a debate by insisting on preconditions.
He said the government was ready to discuss the paper leak issue immediately and was willing to let the debate continue for as long as the Opposition wanted, even for two days. Rijiju also said the Opposition could decide both the date and duration of the discussion and claimed the government had reached out to Congress and other parties to facilitate the debate. However, the Opposition remained firm that no discussion could begin unless Pradhan resigned.
The Rajya Sabha witnessed similar scenes. Opposition MPs repeatedly demanded the education minister's resignation before any debate on the NEET issue.
Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said the resignation was necessary as students had allegedly been injured in police action during protests and their families were deeply distressed.
Responding to the demand, Leader of the House JP Nadda accused the Opposition of obstructing Parliament despite the government's willingness to debate the issue.
"They neither want any discussion nor let the House function. First, they told us to discuss the paper leak, and the government said we would discuss NEET and all other issues," Nadda said.
Deputy chairman Harivansh made repeated appeals to members to allow the House to function and proceed with legislative business, but the protests continued.
When the Upper House reassembled at 3.00 pm, Harivansh briefly allowed Kharge to speak in an effort to break the impasse. However, after Kharge began reading prepared remarks, the chair intervened, saying the opportunity had been given only to facilitate the start of a discussion on the NEET issue.
With slogan-shouting continuing in both Houses, Parliament remained deadlocked for the fourth straight day, with no breakthrough in sight.
With PTI inputs