The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day on Monday amid uproar over the BJP accusing top Congress leaders of colluding with billionaire investor George Soros to destabilise the country, with Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar cautioning that “functioning of the deep state affects us more perniciously than the Covid disease”. Amid uproar by treasury and opposition benches when the Upper House re-assembled at 3 pm after three adjournments earlier in the day, Chairman Dhankhar informed that a meeting was held in his chamber between the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition.
“The purpose of that meeting was to ensure that the House runs smoothly. Both sides had a frank discussion and they signalled two things. One, that integrity, and sovereignty of the nation are sacred for us. We cannot allow any forces within the country or outside to sacrilege our unity, our integrity and our sovereignty,” Dhankhar said, adding that the leaders have agreed to meet in his chamber again at 10:30 am on Tuesday.
The Chairman then appealed to all members to carefully consider the oath of the Constitution they have taken to ensure the integrity of the nation on a priority basis.
“Any challenge to the unity and integrity of the nation from within or outside requires all of us to offer a united challenge … It is a challenge to our very existence. We as a nation are committed to fighting the sinister forces, the forces that are inimical to India… a deep state that is evolving is required to be neutralised by all of us,” he said.
Dhankhar further appealed to members to share the sentiments of the 1.4 billion people at large who are extremely concerned that all divisive forces, all forces that are pernicious to the concept of Bharat, all forces that have a sinister design to run down our democracy, to bring down our progress, to impede our economic upsurge have to be defeated by us.
He said the sentiment shared by the people has to emanate from the House, and at this critical moment when the country is facing such challenges, it must send a united voice so that these forces are defeated.
The Chairman cautioned that we cannot afford to overlook such evil designs, asserting that the “functioning of the deep state affects us more perniciously than the Covid disease”, before adjourning the Upper House for the day.
