New Delhi: Opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha Monday accused the government of attacking the federal structure and undermining constitutional bodies while claiming that an Emergency-like situation exists in the country.
Participating in a debate on the 75-year journey of the Constitution, Debashish Samantaray, whose party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is not a part of either the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), alleged that Constitutional watchdogs have been converted into “pet-dogs”.
“What is the situation today, anyone can be sent to jail, chief ministers were put in jail, denied bail. There is definitely an Emergency in the country, I will say it openly,” he said.
“The so-called Constitutional watchdogs have become pet dogs, anyone can be behind bars without justification,” he said.
“We speak about Emergency, but there is a pseudo-Emergency in India,” he said.
“The Constitution somewhere has gone off track and none of us are willing to address it…,” he said.
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale alleged that justice is being denied to people under the NDA government and accused it of destroying the Constitution.
“Injustice has been the hallmark of the Modi government. How will PM Modi defend his record on justice to the 21 lakh MGNREGS workers in Bengal who have worked but haven’t been paid in three years because the Modi government has withheld Bengal’s dues as his party lost elections,” Gokhale said.
“The rapists of Bilkis Bano were released by this government. Umar Khalid, Khalid Saifi… numerous others are in jail for speaking against the government… The 750 farmers who died outside the borders of Delhi… People of Manipur who have seen homes burn and family die…, ” he said.
“I have the personal privilege of experiencing justice under this government. I was locked up in jail in Gujarat for 155 days…,” Gokhale said.
He alleged that minorities are being subjected to “atrocities every day”.
Gokhale said, “Where is social justice? Minorities are subjected to atrocities every day, the PM ran a poisonous communal campaign during the Lok Sabha elections.
“Where is economic justice when youth have no jobs and families have no money left, thanks to rising inflation? Can the finance minister at least reduce tax on the middle class.
“Where is political justice when opposition leaders are threatened using the CBI and the ED, and corrupt ones go through the BJP washing machine and become squeaky clean? ”
“Our PM loves to talk about the previous government… the way he destroyed the Constitution in ten years, the previous government could not do in 70 years,” he said.
“Modi does not care about justice, that is why it was poetic justice when BJP (strength in Lok Sabha) was reduced,” he said.
DMK’s Tiruchi Siva accused the Union government of undermining the federal structure of the country.
He said while there is no explicit term for federalism in the Preamble of the Constitution, the first line says “Bharat, that is India, is a union of states”.
He said the devolution of funds to Tamil Nadu by the Union government has been declining.
“For every One Rupee that we contribute, we get only 0.29 rupee. Tamil Nadu is performing very well, but we are being victimised by the Union government,” he said. Siva also expressed concern over the condition of religious as well as lingual minorities.
“Jinnah wanted a separate nation for Muslims. He declared that Muslims come with me to the Muslim nation. But Muslims who are now in the country said yes, we are Islamic people, but this is our country. But how are they being treated now?” he said.
Accusing the ruling party of Hindi imposition, he said, “Wherever we go, we only see Sanskrit, Hindi letters… The Eighth Schedule of the Constitution has 22 languages, no language should dominate others,” he said.
“Not even an iota of doubt should creep into the minds of linguistic and religious minorities. Don’t impose,” he said.
In his maiden speech, Mukul Balkrishna Wasnik of the Congress said the references made to Jawaharlal Nehru in speeches made by Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Hardeep Singh Puri were full of “hatred” for India’s first Prime Minister.
The situation in Kashmir had become worrisome, Wasnik said, asserting that the decisions taken by Nehru and the country’s first government should be viewed with utmost respect.
Referring to Sitharaman’s speech, he said, she outlined initiatives taken for women, and even the Congress party wants reservation for women (in Parliament) and will support it.
However, he observed that there has not been a single female President of the BJP or a woman chief of the Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh (RSS), to which Kiran Choudhry, who was in the Chair, told him to speak on the Constitution and not digress from the topic.
A D Singh (RJD) said the Pace of Worship Act of 1991 was being violated and new disputes related to mosques and dargahs in Sambal, Ajmer, Badaun, etc. were being raked up.
It has been seen that many lower courts are passing orders for the surveys of mosques, bypassing the Places of Worship Act, he alleged
“The recent Sambal Shahi Masjid row is a cleverly engineered controversy to keep the Hindu-Muslim pot simmering,” he claimed, adding that the way the petition was filed and the speed with which the survey was ordered raises questions about the sanctity of the process.
DMK Rajya Sabha member N R Elango demanded greater scrutiny of the Election Commission’s functioning saying a “pliable” poll body “serves as a gateway to power consolidation striking democracies apart”.
“The Commission’s recent reluctance to act against model code violation and investigate forced withdrawal of nominations and the working of EVMs have to be put under greater scrutiny,” he asserted.
He also asked the Union government “to rethink and withdraw the bill on ‘One Nation One Election’ as it poses a great threat to democracy”.
He further said the federal structure of India’s constitution “faces unprecedented strain, particularly on the fiscal relations”, while drawing attention to the country’s approach to water sharing between states”.
YSR Congress Party MP Vijayasai Reddy alleged that “unconstitutional actions” were being undertaken by BJP’s ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
His party colleague S Niranjan Reddy expressed concern over how expensive elections have become and also drew the attention of the house on the cost of health and education facilities which, he claimed, are now becoming “poverty enablers” for many people in the country.
PTI