Winter Session: Opposition slams PM Modi, says Upper House is for delay and protests

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Winter Session: Opposition slams PM Modi, says Upper House is for delay and protests
Winter Session: Opposition slams PM Modi, says Upper House is for delay and protests

New Delhi : A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on the importance of fruitful sessions in the parliament for the development of a nation, the opposition claimed that Upper House is used only for delays and protests.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Ayangar had given three reasons for the need of a second chamber — the Rajya Sabha. Ayangar, Singh said, "expected that Rajya Sabha would hold dignified debates, delay legislation which might be the outcome of passions of the moment, and provide opportunity to seasoned people who might not be in the thickest of political fray but who might be willing to participate in debates with the amount of learning and importance which we do not ordinarily associate with the House of People."

Arguing on similar lines, CPI(M) leader T K Rangarajan said, "Constitution-framers have said, 'The Second Chamber is the only instrument by which we delay action which might be hastily finished in Lok Sabha...'." He added that the government is now pushing “everything” in the guise of Money Bill.

Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadav asserted that the Upper House cannot just agree to whatever the Lok Sabha does.

A couple of leaders have raised demand that the Rajya Sabha should function for 100 days so that small leaders also get chance to speak in the house.

Members of the treasury benches, however, disagreed with the opposition leaders. BJP’s Bhupendra Yadav countered Singh on his accusation that fewer Bills were sent to Parliamentary committees. He said the UPA government under Singh had referred only five Bills to House panels, while the Modi government has sent 17 Bills to select committees. “This is more than three times than that of the Congress government,” he said.

In his speech, Ramesh said that while the House is celebrating democracy, there is hypocrisy being practiced since the Upper House is bypassed through “abuse” of the Money Bill route.