Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan on Wednesday criticized some members for boycotting her speech in the Rajya Sabha. While speaking on the Transgender Persons Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Bachchan said, “Paki peeth jao” (Sit down, child), after being interrupted.
A widely circulated video clip from her address also showed her questioning President Dr Dinesh Sharma: “How can you cut short my time? I will go to the well.”
As Jaya Bachchan began her speech, she paid tribute to celebrate Ram Navami on Thursday. Then some members from the other side spoke.
“If someone starts talking, attention will shift towards them. If I am speaking, your attention will be towards me,” Bachchan told the chair.
The clip also showed the chair scolding the members and asking them to sit down. He also asked Jaya Bachchan to stick to the topic as she was wasting time. In addition, Bachchan says that her time is in the hands of the chair.
While Bachchan waits for the other members to stop talking, the chair again reminds her that she is wasting her time, so she chimes in by saying, “You can’t take up my time,” adding that she is going to the well. The well is an open area in the middle of Parliament in front of the chair.
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The opposition opposes the Transgender Persons Amendment Bill
Opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday opposed the Transgender Persons (Amendment) Bill and demanded that it be either withdrawn or referred to a select committee of Parliament.
Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan questioned the “urgency” in bringing this bill, asking why “it cannot be examined with the depth and care it deserves?”
Read also: Parliament approves a bill to amend the transgender law amid backlash from the opposition and activists
Bachchan said that transgender people were kept in the homes of kings and queens to provide security to women in ancient times. She added: “They were considered safe, but today suddenly the government felt unsafe because of their presence.”
She requested that the draft law be withdrawn and returned after consideration in the monsoon session.
