LS telecast off on ethnic Indians' issue in Malaysia
New Delhi, Nov 29 (UNI) Speaker Somnath Chatterejee today ordered switching off of live telecast of Lok Sabha proceedings briefly and then adjourned the House for half an hour when members from Tamil Nadu, joined by the BJP, insisted on a statement by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the plight of ethnic Indians in Malaysia.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, S K Kharventhan (Cong) sought to know what the Government could do to end the plight of 1.5 million ethnic Indians, 85 per cent of whom were Tamilians, in Malaysia and referred to the incident in Kuala Lumpur where they were recently baton and tear gas charged and subjected to chemical-laced water canons.
After allowing BJP members, including their deputy leader V K Malhotra, and Dr C Krishnan (MDMK) to associate with it, the Speaker, however, did not allow them to elucidate on the issue.
Amid
commotion,
when
a
member
sought
a
statement
on
the
issue
by
Mr
Mukherjee,
who
was
present,
the
Speaker
quipped," It
is
entirely
for
him
(
to
make
or
not
make
a
statement)
I
am
not
going
to
direct
him."
When
the
din
continued
in
the
House,
Mr
Chatterjee,
who
had
earlier
ordered
that
nothing
objectionable
would
be
recorded
as
Malaysia
was
a
friendly
country,
directed
that
live
telecast
of
the
proceedings
be
switched
off
and
subsequently
adjourned
the
House
till
1300
hrs.
UNI