During the Lok Sabha budget session, a different scene was observed.
In reality, Ajay Tamta, the Union Minister of State for Road Transport, was responding to enquiries from lawmakers in the Lok Sabha. An MP confronted the minister during Question Hour to get the answer to a question he had. He asked, 'what are the rules for declaring any road as National Highway?' The question was beyond the minister's comprehension. He opened and started reading the departmental question response from the MP. The speaker then interrupted the minister in the middle of reading the response. He made an effort to clarify the query for him. The minister stopped him and made him sit down when he could not understand the question.
What Really Happened?
Minister Ajay Tamta was questioned by Congress MP Bhajan Lal Jatav of Karauli-Dholpur, Rajasthan, about the criteria for designating a national highway. He stated that our parliamentary constituency contains three pilgrimage sites. Are you considering designating the Mumbai Motorway, Pinan, Mahua to Karauli, Karauli to Kailadevi, and Pinan to Mahua as national highways? Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla joked, "You have been the PWD minister; you should know how NH is declared," in response to this. MP Bhajan Lal Jatav expressed his desire to know the criteria in this regard.
The Lok Sabha member had asked a question about Maharashtra, Ajay Tamta said as he got up to respond. The opposition responded by claiming that Rajasthan, not Maharashtra, is at fault. The minister was also notified of this by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Om Birla asked the Member of Parliament's question once more. The minister wanted to provide information about the department's work on Rajasthan once more on this.
Speaker's Intervention
The speaker responded by stating that he was not interested in learning about Rajasthan. He is curious about the requirements for NH declaration. The minister then began to provide information about NH prior to and following 2014. He stated that there were 91,281 km of NH as of 2014. During PM Narendra Modi's tenure, 1,41,136 km of NH have been built. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha then motioned for him to take a seat.
Discussion started on social media
The discourse on social media has become more intense. Users have been asking questions about the video of the Parliamentary proceedings ever since it was made public.
People ask how the answer can be found when the minister himself is unsure. The debate over providing the response in UP has become very heated.
One user claimed that the speaker interrupts the opposition party member when they begin to speak. He makes fun of them. It is not appropriate for him to act in this way towards the minister.