New Delhi: It was another day of chaos, mayhem and adjournments in the Indian Parliament.
The ongoing issue was renaming of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) of Congress-led UPA era with the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) – or the G Ram G bill which has been introduced by the BJP-helmed NDA government
Congress leaders and several Opposition MPs held a protest from the Gandhi statue to the Makkar Dawar in Parliament premises, protesting the renaming of MNREGA. They made the point that they won’t tolerate ‘disrespect’ to Mahatma ‘Bapuji’ Gandhi.
After a stormy debate over the G Ram G bill in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the Opposition demanded that the proposed legislation be referred to the Standing Committee.
The bill was passed in the lower house by a voice vote even as Opposition members showed posters of Bapuji, raised slogans against the renamed bill.
As Rural Development minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan responded to the discussion on G RAM G Bill, Opposition MPs stormed the well of the house, tore copies of the bill and flung it towards the chair.
Chouhan later hit out against the Opposition and asked if “Bapu would accept this kind of disgraceful behaviour of Opposition standing atop desks in Parliament”.
The Union minister said the way the Opposition behaved in Parliament was a “murder of Bapu’s ideals,” ANI reported.
Asking there was a fuss over the name, Chouhan said, “Ram G ke naam par itni chidh kyu hain? The name ‘VB–G Ram G’ bill simply reflects the objectives which are employment and ajeevika.”
BJP MP Sambit Patra also called out criticised the Opposition.
“We all witnessed the proceedings in the House. More than Rs 1.51 lakh crore will be spent under this bill. The poor will be guaranteed 125 days of work instead of 100, and rural infrastructure will be strengthened. But today, I must say with sorrow that the manner in which the Congress Party and some of its MPs behaved in the House will be remembered as a dark chapter in India’s parliamentary history,” PTI quoted Patra as saying.
“I believe this is the first time such scenes have been witnessed. During the reply of Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, papers and bills were torn, thrown into the air, and even folded into paper planes. Students sitting in the visitors’ gallery were shocked to see what was happening in the House,” Patra added.
Another BJP MP Tejasvi Surya remarked that the Opposition behaved in the most careless and unparliamentary manner.
“All respectable parliamentary codes of conduct were thrown away… The opposition has done a great disservice to the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. He was dead against corruption, and all that the Congress party has done is corruption,” Surya told reporters outside Parliament.
According to Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the proposed legislation will finish off the rural employment guarantee scheme completely.
“We will strongly oppose this bill. All parties are unanimously opposed to it. This bill will finish off MGNREGA. From whatever perspective you look at the bill, the increasing of work days from 100 days to 125 is their deceit. Anyone who reads the bill carefully would know that this scheme will be finished off in the next few days,” Priyanka told reporters.
