The West Bengal Assembly has decided to do away with the Question Hour at the upcoming two day monsoon session on the 9th and 10th of September. The decision was taken by Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on the grounds of shortage of time and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation.
Questions were being raised by netizens on the Trinamool Congress (TMC) had raised objections on the canceling of the Question Hour in Parliament and why questions had to be given 15 days in advance and in writing. A few days later the ruling party in West Bengal decided to do away with the Question Hour due to shortage of time.
Netizens took potshots at TMC MPs Derek O'Brien and Mahua Moitra questioning their move to target the decision to do away with the Question Hour in the Parliament. In his tweet, O'Brien had questioned, “You don’t allow #QuestionHour where ministers have to stand up and answer Qs from MPs and be held accountable Now you only condescend to allow written Questions/Answers! Stop throwing crumbs. This is #Parliament Not the Gujarat Gymkhana.”
Moitra’s tweet reads, “Asking questions in Court is Contempt. Asking questions outside Parliament is Sedition. And now. Asking questions inside Parliament is Forbidden.”
Some netizens were of another view. “There was no question hour in 62, 71 and 75. All under the Congress regime. Did we hear anything from liberals?” read one tweet.
O'Brien later however clarified to netizens in his tweet. “North Korean godi TV comparing a 20day “regular” #ParliamentMonsoonSession to a two-day session of a State Assembly! Sessions of a few days in #Parliament NEVER have #QuestionHour (except China war 1962). Don’t compare apples & oranges. Research. Or come to us for a tutorial,” said Obrien in his tweet, asking not to compare the West Bengal Assembly speaker’s decision to that of the stand taken in Parliament.
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