Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday said the suspension of listed business for discussion on an issue is allowed only in the “rarest of rare” cases as he tried to justify not accepting the demand of the Opposition parties for an extensive debate on Manipur.

The disappointed Opposition leaders wondered how the continuous violence in Manipur could not qualify as a “rarest of rare” case for discussion under Rule 267 in the Rajya Sabha.

A motion for discussion moved and accepted under Rule 267 would necessitate the suspension of all listed business for the day. The Opposition leaders have been demanding a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Manipur situation and a discussion under Rule 267, which has been rejected by Dhankhar. The government and the Rajya Sabha chairman have instead agreed on a short-duration discussion under Rule 176.

Dhankhar usually reads the subjects and the names of the members moving notices for discussion in the House. On Monday, he said he had received 65 notices. About 40-50 members are moving notices under Rule 267 every day for discussion on Manipur. Dhankhar asked the members of the House if he should read all the names.

Leader of the House Piyush Goyal said the government was ready for a short-duration discussion on the issue at 2pm on Monday. He accused the Opposition of running away from discussion and causing disruption in the House.

The chairman said that discussion under Rule 267 was allowed in the “rarest of rare” cases.

“In a democracy, this is the highest platform enabling representatives of people to secure a response from the government, thereby effecting accountability and transparency. Suspension of the business of the House that has been listed has to be effected in the rarest of the rare cases. The last occasion when Rule 267 came to be invoked was five years ago in 2018,” Dhankhar said.

According to Parliament records, the last time the Rajya Sabha took up a discussion under Rule 267 was on November 16, 2016, on the issue of demonetisation. Hamid Ansari was the chairman at that time. During Venkaiah Naidu’s tenure from August 11, 2017 to August 10, 2022, no discussion had taken place under Rule 267.

Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said Manipur was burning and reiterated the demand for discussion under Rule 267 and a statement by the Prime Minister. The House was adjourned four times and very little business could be transacted.

Outside the House, the Shiv Sena (Thackeray) questioned the rationale behind not considering Manipur as a “rarest of rare” case.

“I want to ask how Manipur is not a rarest of rare case? The Supreme Court has taken a strong view of the situation in Manipur. About 6,000 cases have been filed. Thousands of people are living in camps. If not this then what is rarest of rare?” Priyanka Chaturvedi told reporters.

The apex court on Monday said crime against women in Manipur could not be glossed over just because similar incidents were occurring elsewhere.

She likened the Prime Minister’s silence to that of Dhritharashtra in the Mahabharata when Draupadi was being disrobed.

Aam Admi Party leader Raghav Chadha said Prime Ministers, starting from Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh, have responded to major debates in Parliament.

“Already 11 days have passed since the monsoon session started. The government could have discussed the Manipur issue on any of these days and the rest of the business could have run well,” he said.

He reminded the statement of former Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley that obstruction in Parliament was in favour of democracy if Parliament ignored issues that ought to be discussed.

The Opposition sought to drive home the reason why they are insisting on invoking Rule 267.

“The INDIA parties want this under Rule 267 which means given the seriousness of the issue being raised all other business of the House gets suspended till the debate is over. It is not the INDIA parties that are running away from a debate on Manipur. It is actually the PM who is running away from giving a statement in the Rajya Sabha,” senior Congress leader in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh tweeted.

“Mr Prime Minister, you are so arrogant. You have a heart of stone. The women and children of Manipur, the people of Manipur are suffering. We don’t want a Maggie noodles two-minute discussion… a two-hour discussion won’t do. We want a full-fledged discussion under an emergency rule called 267,” Trinamul Congress’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien said while briefing the media outside
Parliament.