Government changes mind on allowing Gaza debate in House

Till Tuesday evening, the government was open to discussing the "unprecedented spurt in violence in Gaza and West Bank area of Palestine causing death of scores of civilians". It figured in Rajya Sabha's list of business for Wednesday for a short duration discussion, but later government was not willing to go with it, revealing confusion in its stance and sparking off a storm in the House.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj spelled out the government's dilemma. She said that India has friendly relations with both the countries -- Israel and Palestine -- and no harsh words can be used against a friendly country. "We have diplomatic ties with both nations. Any discourteous reference to any friendly country can impact our relations with them," she said.

Swaraj explained that she had come to know late about the listing of the issue and had written to Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari citing the relevant rule and how the matter cannot be discussed in the House. She said that she would wait for the chairman's response before the discussion could begin. Meanwhile, she wanted the rest of the Zero Hour issues to be taken up.

On Tuesday, minister of state for parliamentary affairs Prakash Javadekar had agreed to a short duration discussion on the issue. However, sources said the issue was not to be taken up on Wednesday.

A belligerent opposition -- Congress, Left and JD-U -- insisted that once listed the House business cannot be altered. The protests led to the adjournment of the House. The opposition is likely to raise the the issue on Thursday. Opposition leaders said the government's change of mind on discussing the issue was conveyed to them at the last-minute.

Swaraj, in her letter, had quoted rule 169 (16) which says motions on matters of public interest "shall not refer discourteously to a friendly foreign country."

However, the Palestinian issue has been debated in Parliament on past occasions. In 2000, the then foreign minister Jaswant Singh made a statement in Lok Sabha condemning Israeli forces surrounding Palestinian Authority chairman Yasir Arafat. In 2003, Lok Sabha passed a resolution against US invasion of Iraq.

In Lok Sabha, the issue was raised on Tuesday and members were allowed to speak on the issue. Mebooba Mufti of People's Democratic Party made the initial statement, followed by Congress' Shashi Tharoor, Trinamool Congress' Saugata Roy, Indian Union of Muslim League's EA Ahmed, Majlis Ittehadul Mislimeen's Asaduddin Owaisi and Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav spoke. Speaker reminded Owaisi that there was no discussion in the matter.

Leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad in a statement issued insisted on the debate.

"I along with other opposition members had give a motion on Palestine under Rule 176 for a short duration discussion. When all over the world, the issue is being debated and discussed, it is quite required for the Indian parliament to discuss it, when it is in session. There is precedence. We have discussed issue of Palestine umpteen times in past," Azad said.

He said there has been a consistent policy on this since independence and even before independence in 1938 Mahatma Gandhi wrote in Harijan about Palestine and rights of people there.

"Not only the Congress governments, but also the previous NDA government under Vajpayee , we discussed about Palestine and homeland. What has transpired now that we are unable to discuss the issue.

West Asia is close to our economy. Not only is it important for our energy security, a large number of Indians are employed in this region. It is a one-sided fight," he said.

Refusing to buy the argument that government had put this in the agenda without giving a thought, he said now unless the item is discussed, it will not be possible to carry forward business of Rajya Sabha.

"Having put it in agenda at a specific place, the agenda cannot move now by overstepping and taking on other issue," he said