WHEN the Chair moved a resolution on the price rise, urging the government to actually take care of its negative effect on aam aadmi, we had hoped that the Prime Minister would intervene and would give us his strength in actually implementing that. But that did not happen. It did not happen on the question of the Kashmir situation. It did not happen on the question of Bhopal gas victims. But he had intervened, in the other House, on the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill.
These words of Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury were noisily interrupted by Congress members during the debate on the civil nuclear liability Bill. In many ways, the CPI(M) leader's comment, as well as the response it evoked, highlighted some of the nuances of the existing state of politics in the ruling dispensation at the Centre.
The noisy interruptions from the treasury benches made it clear that the members of the ruling party were irked by Yechury's comment. However, there was no pointed rebuttal, which underscored the relevance of Yechury's argument. It is a fact that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had not responded to any of the other serious issues referred to by Yechury but had chosen to make a suo motu statement, intervening in the Lok Sabha debate on the civil nuclear liability Bill on August 25. In that intervention, he argued that there were no concealed vested interests promoting the civil nuclear liability Bill. He said: To say that we have in a way compromised with India's national interest would be a travesty of facts. To say that this is being done to promote American interests and to help American Corporation, I think is far from being the truth.
He said that this was not the first time that he was being accused of promoting U.S. interests and recalled that his 1992 Budget had faced criticism from Opposition members who said he should be impeached and alleged that the Budget had been prepared in the U.S.
The Prime Minister's intervention made it clear that he found it imperative to assert his commitment to the nation and counter any misgivings about it. It also showed how much importance he accorded to the passage of the civil nuclear liability Bill. Though he intervened in the debate on the Bill in the Lok Sabha, he sat through the discussions in the Rajya Sabha. After the passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, he made it a point to thank and congratulate the officials who had given supporting services during the debate in the House.
There is a feeling in political circles, both within the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and in the Opposition, that the understanding struck with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to facilitate the smooth passage of the Bill also underscores the high importance it has in the eyes of the Prime Minister.
Talking to Frontline, former Union Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that this understanding in a matter that had a predominant American connection did not bode well for national politics at large. What we have just witnessed is the rather inexplicable transformation of the principal Opposition of the country into a B team of the ruling dispensation, he said.
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh added that it was not only on this Bill that this understanding had manifested itself. One has seen this in many varied cases, including price rise. Except for a few days initially, and I think that this was a mere formality, the BJP did not stick to its stand of having a discussion under a rule that entailed voting. Later, the House discussed the issue under Rule 193, which does not call for voting. If this trend continues, the BJP will soon be bereft of its relevance as the main Opposition party.
He added: One has also heard stories about the price that the ruling dispensation is paying to get the BJP on its side. A widely circulated story links the understanding on the nuclear liability Bill to the CBI's [Central Bureau of Investigation] inability to find any evidence against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.
The BJP, on its part, has denied these allegations and has argued that its support to the Bill was on account of the several changes that the government was compelled to make in the original version. When the government came around to our point of view on a number of issues, it was our duty as a responsible Opposition [to support the Bill], senior BJP leader Mukthar Abbas Naqvi told Frontline.
He made a pointed reference to the speech of BJP leader Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha to buttress his argument. Jaitley had said that the BJP had differences with the UPA over the India-U.S. nuclear deal but was supporting the nuclear liability Bill since the government had accommodated several points raised by the party. He also criticised the government's hurry to pass the Bill before an international dignitary's (read U.S. President Barack Obama) scheduled visit and remarked that the Bill was an example of how not to legislate. In his opinion, the Bill should have been subjected to a sustained national debate.
Other opposition leaders, including Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, said that such arguments were just shadow-boxing and did not have much credibility. Political observers will keenly watch this new understanding between the ruling coalition and the principal Opposition party. Some social activists feel that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar will demand their pound of flesh in lieu of their support on the Bill and related issues.
Venkitesh RamakrishnanCOMMents
COMMents
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