New Delhi, Dec 10 (IANS) Both houses of Parliament were adjourned Wednesday after tributes were paid to former prime minister V.P. Singh who died last month and Samajwadi Party MP Munawwar Hasan who was killed in a road accident Wednesday morning. Members in both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha stood in silence for a minute as a mark of respect to the dead.

The Lok Sabha also paid tributes to two deceased former members Tayyab Hussain and Ajit Kumar Panja and the people killed in the Assam and Mumbai terror attacks.

While making the obituary references, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said: “With the passing away of V.P. Singh, an eventful era in the political history of the country has come to an end. In his demise the country has lost a true friend of the poor and deprived and a statesman who stood for secularism and a casteless society.”

Describing Hasan as “a well-known social activist and crusader for the cause of social justice”, the speaker said: “Hasan fought for the rights and the welfare of the poor, downtrodden and deprived sections of the society.”

Strongly condemning the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai and Assam, the house also called for “strict action and all out efforts to prevent recurrence of such cowardly and inhuman attacks”.

“These terrorist attacks on the country are a crime against humanity,” Chatterjee said.

The house expressed its “profound sorrow on these tragic (deaths) which have brought immense pain and untold suffering to the families of the bereaved and injured”.

Chatterjee said Tayyab Hussain was a member of the fifth and seventh Lok Sabha, representing Gurgaon and Faridabad constituencies respectively.

“Hussain played a prominent role in the working relating to social and educational uplift of the people, specially the minorities,” the speaker said.

Describing Ajit Kumar Panja as an able administrator, the speaker said Panja was “a committed social activist by choice, strove for the welfare of the poor, needy and physically handicapped”. He was a member of the eighth to 13th Lok Sabhas.