In an unprecedented protest on Parliament premises, eight opposition members of the Rajya Sabha, suspended after the ruckus over controversial farm bills, spent the night on the lawns of the complex as they continued their protest. The Upper House had to be adjourned five times as the MPs  refused to leave even after being suspended for a week.

The Opposition members have accused deputy Chairman Harivansh of pushing through the Bills without following democratic processes. The Bill that was passed in Lok Sabha, was introduced in Rajya Sabha on Sunday where it met with stiff Opposition. The deputy Speaker had rejected the Opposition MPs calls for sending the bills to a select committee for review or even to extend the discussion till Monday. The Bill was passed by voice vote.

On Monday, RS Chairman Venkaiah Naidu not only rejected the Opposition move to pass a no-confidence motion against the deputy Speaker, he also suspended eight MPs for one week. When the lawmakers — Derek O Brien and Dola Sen (Trinamool), Sanjay Singh (AAP), Raju Satav, Ripun Bora, Syed Nazir Hussain (Congress), KK Ragesh and Elamaran Karim (CPI-M)– did not leave the Rajya Sabha the House was adjourned for the day. They then moved their protest to the Parliament lawns, near Mahatma Gandhi’s statue, where they sat holding placards that read – “We will fight for farmers” and “Parliament assassinated”.

To show support, senior opposition leaders, including National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, JD(S)’ Deve Gowda, Samajwadi Party’s Jaya Bachchan, Congress’ Ahmed Patel and NCP’s Praful Patel, came out in the lawns and stood with the suspended MPs..

This morning, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh walked over to them and offered them tea, but they rebuffed his “tea diplomacy”, calling him “anti-farmer”, TV channels reported

The Farmers’ and Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 have sparked controversies since its approval in the Lok Sabha. The Opposition parties, as well as several other agricultural outfits have been protesting against them, alleging that these legislations will account for dismantling the minimum support price system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporates.

Two key farm bills, dubbed as the biggest reform in agriculture by the government, were on Sunday passed by Rajya Sabha with voice vote amid unprecedented unruly scenes by protesting opposition members who were demanding that the proposed legislation be referred to a House panel for greater scrutiny