New Delhi: The proceedings of the Lok Sabha were adjoured till 3.00 PM today to allow members and ministers participate in the swearing-in ceremony of Ramnath Kovind as the 14th President of India.
The House was scheduled to run for a few minutes but as noisy protests mounted by opposition members over cow vigilantes and lynching erupted, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan decided to adjourn the proceedings just when the first question was being taken up in the Question Hour.
"You don't want the House to function...as it is, I am adjourning the House to allow members and ministers participate in the oath taking of the 14th President and other ceremonies...," she said.
As soon as the Question Hour was taken up, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge raised the issue of cow vigilantism and the "repeated" incidents of lynching in the name of cow protection.
The Speaker said Kharge had given a notice to adjourn the Question Hour but there is no rule for that.
Incidentally, the first question the House was to take up was "whether it is a fact that 99.19 per cent cows and 99 per cent oxen are productive in the country".
While the question was being read out, the minister could not give an answer and the proceedings were adjourned