In an unprecedented development in the parliamentary history, the government chose not to reply to a full-fledged discussion held in the Lok Sabha last Thursday on the current volatile situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
The discussions not concluded are carried over to the next day to enable the minister reply, but the one on Kashmir did not figure on the agenda after it remained inconclusive on Thursday.

BJP stalwart Murli Manohar Joshi raised the issue on Tuesday, wanting to know why the government has developed a cold feet in not responding to the debate as otherwise the nation would not know if and how the government intends to tackle the situation in the valley.

When parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal sought to explain that the government's priority is the legislative business and as such the debate could not be responded, BJP veteran L K Advani asked the speaker to direct the government to reply to the debate. "Reply must come. (There is) no reason for the home minister not to give the reply."

Bansal, however, harped on 50 hours of the house "wasted" because of pandemonium and adjournments to explain the government not getting time to reply. This triggered strong protests from the opposition members that made the minister claim that he did not mean the government won't reply.
He, however, did not commit to get the government's reply before the house ends the session as he said he would speak to the home minister and find about his engagements. "If it is not possible to reply today, the speaker may put the discussion on the agenda in the next session (to enable reply)," he said while asserting that the Opposition cannot say that the government does not want to reply.