Article : Shri Arun Jaitley on "Is Congress responsible for stalling of legislation in Parliament?"

Is Congress responsible for stalling of legislation in Parliament?

- Arun Jaitley

Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha)

As we enter the last week of the Parliament session a legitimate question which arises for consideration is –who is responsible for the non-passage of several pending legislations? The Congress Vice President, Rahul Gandhi yesterday made a statement that the BJP has blocked the Anti-graft legislations in the Parliament.

The truth is that the Congress conceived of some legislations towards the end of UPA’s 10 year rule. By this time the party had lost majority in both Houses of parliament. Most of these legislations and several other laws such as legislation relating to protection to be provided to street vendors or setting up of a central university in Bundelkhand are not subject matters of any controversy. These are laws which can be passed after some discussion. Several organizations of disabled persons have been pressing for early consideration and passage of laws which deal with the issues of concern to them. Just as Rahul Gandhi blamed the BJP yesterday for the non-passage of the Anti graft laws, stake holders in relation to other legislations are being fed with similar arguments.

The facts in this regard need to be clearly stated. The BJP has no reservation against most of these legislations. We are willing to support them. Not a single BJP Member has disturbed the proceedings of either of the two Houses of Parliament. No BJP member has gone into the well of the House. We assemble every morning in Parliament. The Houses are disturbed on account of the issues relating to bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh which is pending consideration. The Speaker and the Chairman of the Houses regularly adjourn the Houses since proceedings cannot be conducted in this environment. A large number of members of the Congress Party disturb the Houses every day. I don’t think Rahul Gandhi has had time to either come to the House or acquaint himself with the disturbance being created by his own Party members. Not having spoken even once on major scams such as the 2G spectrum allocation, the Coal Block allocation, the Commonwealth Games organization etc., he has only belatedly realized that corruption is a major issue in Indian politics. Instead of patting himself on the back for this rather belated realization and taking undue credit for introducing these legislations towards the fag end of the tenure, Rahul Gandhi needs to look inwards and find out the honest answer to the question why these legislations are held up. Because it is the Congress Members who repeatedly disturb the House. They are held up because the Government is not able to restore order in the House. The moment Rahul Gandhi realizes the truth and his party takes corrective actions, the BJP will have no difficulty in supporting most of these legislations.

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