New Delhi, Aug 4 (IANS) Rajya Sabha was adjourned briefly amid chaos and protests from both the NDA and Opposition MPs, who accused each other of disrespecting Lord Ram, with the treasury benches demanding an apology. NDA members erupted in protest in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday after Congress president and Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge raised the alleged Ram Temple donation theft issue during Zero Hour, triggering a major ruckus that disrupted proceedings.Opposition MPs began sloganeering over the matter involving the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan intervened, stating that he would call the Leader of Opposition, but members must also listen to the other side, as that was the tradition of the House.

He then permitted Kharge to speak. Kharge raised questions about the Ram Janmabhoomi Trust and the alleged theft of donations.Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju responded that Opposition members “do not believe in Lord Ram” and were seeking to misuse the parliamentary forum by repeatedly raising the same Ram Temple issue both inside and outside the House.He noted that other members had important matters to discuss and described the approach as unfair.He alleged that the Congress party and Samajwadi Party must apologise to the nation for “dishonouring Lord Ram”.This exchange sparked chaos. Opposition members moved towards the well of the House. Treasury benches reacted sharply in response, and the din made it impossible to hear anything clearly.

The Chairman asked the Parliamentary Affairs Minister to respond. Amid the noise, Rijiju said the Opposition members must apologise to the country before raising the same issue again and misusing the valuable time of the House.The pandemonium continued, drowning out his voice. Kharge rose once more and reiterated his allegations. The Chairman again called upon Rijiju to reply.Amid the continuing uproar, the minister stated that if Congress and Samajwadi Party wished to raise the Ram Temple issue, they must first apologise to the country.Seeing no let-up in the chaos, the Chairman adjourned the proceedings till noon.The controversy surrounding alleged irregularities in the handling of devotees’ offerings at the Ayodhya Ram Temple has been in the news since early June 2026. The Opposition has demanded an independent or court-monitored probe into the Trust’s financial affairs.

Earlier, when the House assembled at 11 a.m., papers relating to various ministries were laid on the Table, reports of the Public Accounts Committee were presented, and a motion was moved for elections to the institute bodies of several All India Institutes of Medical Sciences.Anupriya Patel laid papers for the Ministry of Ayush; Pankaj Chaudhary for the Ministry of Finance; Anupriya Patel for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers; B.L. Verma for the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; Shantanu Thakur for the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, and Harsh Malhotra for the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.Sudhanshu Trivedi and Akhilesh Prasad Singh laid on the Table a copy each in English and Hindi of two reports of the Public Accounts Committee for 2026-27.

The first was the 52nd report on the construction of the Dimapur-Kohima new line project of the Northeast Frontier Railway under the Ministry of Railways.The second was the 53rd report on the action taken by the government on the observations and recommendations contained in the committee’s 79th report of the seventeenth Lok Sabha regarding Improper Exemption of IGST on import of pharmaceutical products, pertaining to the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue.A.A. Rahim and Jogen Mohan laid a report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs for 2025-26, which reviewed sewerage and septage coverage in cities with special reference to interventions under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT and AMRUT 2.0) and pertained to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Department of Urban Development.Prataprao Jadhav made a statement on the status of implementation of the recommendations and observations contained in the 170th Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare regarding the Action Taken by the government on the recommendations and observations in its 163rd Report on Demands for Grants for 2025-26 under Demand No. 46 of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Health and Family Welfare.

Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya made statements on the status of implementation of the recommendations and observations contained in the 38th Report of the Seventeenth Lok Sabha of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution concerning the functioning of the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority, as well as those in the 14th Report of the Eighteenth Lok Sabha of the same Committee on Demands for Grants for 2026-27, both pertaining to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Department of Food and Public Distribution.Anupriya Patel moved a motion on behalf of Union Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda seeking the election of members to the institute bodies of various AIIMS. The motion proposed that the House elect six Members, one each for the All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Awantipora, Bathinda, Bhopal, Guwahati, Vijaypur and Madurai, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the All-India Institutes of Medical Sciences Act, 1956 as amended in 2012.

It further sought the election of one Member to AIIMS Jodhpur to fill the vacancy arising from the retirement of Rajendra Gehlot from the Rajya Sabha on June 22. “That in pursuance of Section 4(g) read with Section 6(1) of the All-India Institutes of Medical Sciences Act, 1956, as amended by the All-India Institutes of Medical Sciences (Amendment) Act, 2012, this House do proceed to elect, in such a manner as directed by the Chairman, six members from amongst the members of the House, to be members of the Institute bodies, i.e., one each in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Awantipora, Bathinda, Bhopal, Guwahati, Vijaypur and Madurai; and that, in pursuance of Section 4(g) read with Section 6(3) of the AIIMS Act, 1956, as amended by the AIIMS (Amendment) Act, 2012, this House do proceed to elect, in such a manner as directed by the Chairman, one member from amongst the members of the House, to be a member of the AIIMS, Jodhpur, in the vacancy caused due to the retirement of Rajendra Gehlot from the membership of Rajya Sabha on 22nd June, 2026, subject to the provisions of the Act,” the motion said.

/IANS