From Parliament this week: PM asked opposition not to ‘disturb’ Govt till 2023, recalls Derek O’Brien

Why were advisories sent by the Home Ministry to West Bengal and not to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or Tamil Nadu ? Why was the budget passed last time in 28 minutes with 215 amendments ? Why is the Government so complacent about the water crisis in Tamil Nadu ? Both Derek O’Brien of All India Trinamool Congress and Dayanidhi Maran from the DMK raised pertinent questions.

Bring Women’s Reservation Bill or else don’t talk of women's empowerment, AITC's Derek O’Brien tells government

Coming down heavily on the Narendra Modi government, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien on Tuesday (June 25) said that either the government immediately bring the long-awaited Women Reservation Bill or it should stop posing as a champion of women’s rights by bringing bills like triple talaq targeted at a minuscule percentage of women. He also pointed out that India was sliding in the human development index in which it has the rank of 130, below the countries like Libya and Namibia.

“Bring Women’s Reservation Bill, otherwise don’t say anything about women. You want to bring a Bill which will affect seven crore women (meaning triple talaq bill). Bring a Bill which will affect 60 crore women. Those seven crore women, like everybody else, only want protection, simple protection-- Articles 14, 15 and 16. So, don’t make it a minority issue,” O’Brien said.

“Parliament has had the tradition since 1993 of setting up Standing Committees to scrutinise Bills…Seven out of every 10 Bills which came here were scrutinised. In the last five years…only 24 per cent of Bills were scrutinised. This is Parliament,” he said.

“Coming to Ordinances, in the first 30 years since Independence, out of every 10 Bills passed, one was an Ordinance. In the second period of 30 years, out of every 10 Bills passed, about 2 were Ordinances. In the last 2 years, out of every 10 Bills passed, 4 are Ordinance. So, Ordinance is no more an emergency situation. It is the reality,” he added.

He said that Parliament must sit for at least 100 days in a year. During the last Lok Sabha, it met for average 66 days in a year.

“The Budget, you all know, last time, was discussed here for 28 minutes. Check the record; it was 28 minutes, 215 Amendments passed,” he pointed out.

“Let’s talk about federalism. Sixty-six government schemes were centrally-sponsored. That number, after the last Budget, is down to 28. In other words, the Centre was contributing to 66 schemes. Now, it is only contributing to 28 schemes in the state governments. The Centre has reduced its percentage to state governments in 58 schemes. What federalism! Then you say that there was more devolution; look at those numbers,” the AITC leader said.

“Then, you come to Ayushman Bharat. It was also federalism. 50 per cent of the money was given by the Central government and 40 per cent was given by the State government and, yet, the letters went around everywhere with one man’s (PM Narendra Modi’s) photograph on it,” he added.

He said that while the allocations under Special Purpose Vehicle was going up for the BJP-ruled states, the states with other parties governments were being deprived.

“Now, let us look at Delhi –the allocation has gone down by 40 pe rcent. Likewise, in the case of Kerala it has been reduced by 20 per cent, while the share of West Bengal has gone down by about 17 per cent,” he underlined.

“There is more to it – during the period between June 9 and June 15, three advisories have been issued by the Centre – two by Union Home Ministry and one by Health Ministry -- to West Bengal. You have been sending advisories to West Bengal but not to Uttar Pradesh. Why? You have not sent any advisory to Uttar Pradesh despite the death of 25 people – be they Hindu or Muslim or Yadav or Dalit. It is a matter of the death of 25 persons in the state. You have not bothered to send any advisory to the State of Bihar where 150 children have died,” O’Brien said.

The AITC leader said that at the all-party meet ahead of the session, PM Modi told the opposition: ‘Listen, don’t disturb till 2023-2024, then you can start your campaign again’.

“No, Sir, our job as the opposition, we will do what it takes, starting from today… The Trinamool will continue to play the role of constructive opposition,” he stressed.

Is BJP’s victory its own? Or does it owe it to CBI, IT and ECI, asks Maran

DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran on June 25 drew the attention of the newly-elected Modi government towards the severe water crisis Tamil Nadu is facing as he asked the BJP to introspect as to why voters in that state rejected it and its ally AIADMK.

“I also find a lot of jubilation in the speeches of the ruling party after winning the General Election in 2019. Any party has got the right to be jubilant. I would like to point out that it is not very astounding for a party supported by money power, government agencies like the CBI and IT Department; and the Election Commission,” Maran said while speaking in the Lok Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President’s address. “The strength of the BJP does not lie in itself, but in the weakness of the Opposition,” he added. He said water crisis which is looming large in India, especially in South India and Tamil Nadu.

“We are in utter water distress. The NITI Aayog report on water crisis had mentioned that 40 per cent of India’s population will not have access to clean drinking water by 2013. The report warns that 21 Indian cities including Chennai, Bengaluru and Delhi will run out of groundwater by 2020,” he said. He said that in 2004, when the DMK and the UPA came to power for the first time, the central government sanctioned Rs 1,000 crore for a desalination plant in Chennai.

“Now, the ally of the BJP, the ruling ally, the AIADMK is so complacent. They knew that there is no water; there is no rain for the last one year. But they did nothing,” he said. Speaking on the imposition of Hindi language on non-Hindi speaking states, Maran said: “All I ask is, why are you trying to discriminate the state education system? Mylswamy Annadurai who headed the Mangalyaan programme studied in the State Board Tamil Medium school. He made India proud. Today, we have Mr Sivan who also studied in the State Board Tamil Medium school. He is heading the ISRO and is making India proud,” he said.

“The people of Tamil Nadu are upset with you (BJP) because you normally impose, you impose Hindi on us; you impose everything; you impose NEET…” he said.

Raising the issue of the proposed Mekedatu dam, Maran said, “Karnataka is trying to build a project at Mekedatu. This goes against the orders of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and that of the Supreme Court.”