SATURDAY 21 DECEMBER 2024 www.thestatesman.com X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 SINCE 1818 Pages 16 |` 5.00 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ‘OPPN SHOULD RAISE ISSUES BY FOLLOWING RULES INSTEAD OF DISRUPTING PARL ’ KTR GETS RELIEF FROM HIGH COURT TILL 30 DECEMBER P6 SENSEX 78,041.59q1,176.45 WEATHER Partly cloudy. Showers likely in the afternoon. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 36 °C and 29 °C respectively. NIFTY P5 23,587.50q364.20 ` vs $ 85.03 P9 Bills relating to 'ONOE' were referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Max. 92% Min. 77% NEW DELHI, 20 DECEMBER Min: 29.3˚C SUN SETS 16:57 hrs MOON SETS 10:43 hrs T Speaker warns of action over protests in Parl premises TEMPERATURE Max: 36.2˚C SUN RISES 06:12 hrs MOON RISES 22:38 hrs New Moon on 31 December THUMBNAILS A crowd of devotees outside Ajmer Sharif Dargah in Ajmer on Friday. n ANI Ex-Haryana CM Chautala dies at 89: Om Prakash Chautala, a five-time Chief Minister and towering figure of Haryana, passed away at the age of 89. The son of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, he died after suffering a cardiac arrest at his residence in Gurugram. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, expressed his anguish at the death of the former Haryana CM. The state funeral of the former CM shall take place at Teja Khera Farm, Sirsa, at 3 pm on Saturday. he Winter Session of Parliament ended with the adjournment sine die of the two Houses on Friday without transacting any business amid escalating tensions between ruling NDA members and those on the Opposition benches over the Ambedkar issue. Before the two Houses were adjourned, the two important Bills relating to 'One Nation, One Election' were referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee. Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on B R Ambedkar in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday have triggered a storm with Opposition Members demanding an apology from him or his dismissal, leading to frequent disruptions and frequent adjournment of the two Houses. This morning, the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die shortly after it began the proceedings, a day after a massive scuffle in STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 20 DECEMBER the Parliament premises which resulted in injuries to two BJP MPs--Mukesh Rajput and Pratap Chandra Sarangi. Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal today moved a motion that the Bills to further amend the Constitution of India, the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 be referred to a JPC. The motion was approved by the House amid din. The 27 Lok Sabha members on the JPC include P P Chaudhary, Dr C M Ramesh, Bansuri Swaraj, Anurag Singh Thakur, Bhartruhari Mahtab, Dr Sambit Patra, Anil Baluni, Dr Sanjay Jaiswal, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Manish Tewari, Sukhdeo Bhagat, Dharmendra Yadav, Chhotelal, Kalyan Banerjee, Anil Yeshwant Desai, Supriya Sule and Dr Shrikant Eknath Shinde. There are 12 members from the Rajya Sabha. In order to constitute a sitting of the Joint Committee, the quorum will be one-third of the total number of members of the JPC. The Committee will submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the first day of the last week of the next session. Lok Sabha Speaker PM Birla on Friday warned the members that there should not be any sort of protests at the 'dwars' of Parliament, and said that action will be taken in case this is violated. The House was adjourned sine die. The Speaker said that there should be no protest at any of the "dwars" of Parliament, adding that ''it is not appropriate''. He said Parliament will have to take appropriate action in case of violation. ''Maintaining the dignity of Parliament is collective responsibility,'' he pointed out. The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die shortly after it began proceedings for the day, a day after massive Parliament scuffle. P16 SILVER 99,000 GOLD 77,820.00 Parliament’s Winter session comes to end RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY SAM KONSTAS JOINS OZ SQUAD FOR LAST 2 TESTS OF BGT SERIES ‘PEOPLE’S NEEDS DROVE ME’ BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 71.94q0.51 TMC to hold protest rallies on Monday against Shah’s Ambedkar remarks: CM Miss Banerjee, also the Trinamul chief, also accused the BJP of systematically demolishing the countryÊs constitutional ethos and "tearing apart the democratic values and the principles that bind the Indians as a nation" AGENCIES KOLKATA, 20 DECEMBER West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday announced that her Trinamul Congress will organise blocklevel and ward-level protest rallies on 23 December condemning the recent remarks by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah about Dr B.R. Ambedkar. Noting that Ambedkar envisioned a nation built on values of justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity, where all classes, castes, creeds, and communities could live in harmony, Miss Banerjee, in a statement, said: “This is not just an insult to Babasaheb but an attack on the entire Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution, an assault on the legacy of our freedom fighters, and a betrayal of our Dalit and Adivasi brethren.” “To condemn this, we will organise protest rallies across all blocks of Bengal and every ward of Kolkata on 23rd December, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. I urge you to join us in this fight to defend Babasaheb's legacy and our Constitutional spirit. Let’s unite to hold the BJP accountable for their unforgivable actions." Miss Banerjee, also the Trinamul chief, also accused the BJP of systematically demolishing the country’s constitutional ethos and "tearing apart the democratic values and the principles that bind the Indians as a nation". According to her, the comments about Ambedkar are reflections of the BJP’s culture of hate and intolerance. The Union Home Minister was in West Bengal on Friday to address a programme at Siliguri in the Darjeeling district on the occasion of the 61st Raising Day of the Sashastra Seema Bal. The Chief Minister had been quite vocal on Mr Shah’s recent comments about Ambedkar. On Thursday, on two separate occasions for the forthcoming Christmas festival, she said that she was really shocked over comments made about Ambedkar. Earlier on Wednesday, she had issued a statement where she claimed that as the Indian Parliament reflected on 75 years of the Constitution, the Union Home Minister chose to tarnish this occasion with derogatory remarks against Ambedkar and that “too in the temple of democracy”.