Parliament premises cannot be used for dharna, strikes, says RS new rule

“Members cannot use the precincts of the Parliament House for any demonstration, dharna, strike, fast, or for the purpose of performing any religious ceremony,” the bulletin said.

Congress general secretary and chief whip of the party in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh took to Twitter to attack the government.

“Vishguru’s latest salvo — D(h)arna Mana Hai!,” he said, sharing a copy of the circular issued on July 14.

Opposition members have in the past demonstrated inside the Parliament complex and have also staged protests and fasts outside Mahatma Gandhi’s statue inside the complex.

The circular on the usage of some terms in Parliament has drawn flak from the Opposition which insisted that every expression used by them to describe how the BJP was destroying India has now been declared unparliamentary.

However, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla made it clear on Thursday that no word has been banned from use in Parliament but will be expunged on a contextual basis. Members are free to express their views while maintaining decorum of the House, he had said.

A new booklet by the Lok Sabha Secretariat said on Wednesday that the use of terms like ‘jumlajeevi’, ‘baal buddhi’, ‘Covid spreader’, ‘Snoopgate’, and even commonly used words like ‘ashamed’, ‘abused, ‘betrayed’, ‘corrupt’, ‘drama’, ‘hypocrisy’ and ‘incompetent’ will henceforth be considered unparliamentary in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

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