New Delhi, Aug 5 (IANS): The Lok Sabha was adjourned twice Tuesday over the civil services exam and various other issues, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi offering prayers at the Pashupatinath temple in Nepal.
As soon as the house assembled for the day, Samajwadi Party member Dharmendra Yadav tried to raise the UPSC aptitude test issue and sought suspension of the question hour.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, however, disallowed his demand and said the issue could be discussed during the zero hour.
When the zero hour began, Yadav and other Samajwadi Party members, as also Pappu Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, trooped near the speaker's podium and started raising slogans demanding scrapping of the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT).
At the same time, Sudip Bandopadhyay of the Trinamool Congress raised the issue of Modi offering prayers at the Pashupatinath temple in Nepal and claimed that the prime minister had not offered greetings on the Eid.
Bandopadhyay said he appreciated the prime minister offering prayers at the temple in Nepal, "but it is equally expected that he should offer Eid greetings to the other community".
Amid shouts and protests from the ruling benches, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said, "The prime minister has offered Eid greetings which have been widely published. The government believes in the unity of all religions."
However, the Congress party was not satisfied by the reply and party member Adhir Ranjan chowdhary sought to speak on the issue. When the speaker disallowed him, the opposition members trooped near the speaker's podium and the house was adjourned till 12.30 p.m.
When the house reassembled at 12.30 p.m., similar scenes were witnessed and Chowdhary, who was allowed to speak, made certain comments which the speaker deemed as personal remarks and disallowed him again.
At this point, members from the Samajwadi Party and the Congress trooped near the speaker's podium again and started shouting slogans "We want justice" after which the house was again adjourned till 2 p.m.