New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien on Thursday attacked the BJP government over the operating procedure of the monsoon session of the Parliament and asked why the Prime Minister and Home Minister couldn't find time to be present in the Parliament to listen to the opposition even during the discussion on an important bill like the OBC Bill.
"Where was the Prime Minister and the Home Minister? Why they couldn't find one or two minutes of time to come and be present in the parliament to listen to us? Two former PMs, Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda were present in the houses and actively participated in it," TMC MP Derek O'Brien asked.
He further said that the opposition wanted a debate on internal security, "that was our demand from day one. Why did the Prime Minister and Home Minister run away from the parliament? They don't want to face the parliament," he alleged.
Derek O'Brien further said that a total of 39 bills were passed in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha without any debate. "This is not how a democratic country works. The average time of passing a bill was 10 minutes and then you say that the opposition is distracting the session?" the TMC MP further said.
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The TMC MP said that even in 2014, 60-70% of the bills were sent to a parliamentary committee for review. However, now only 11% of the bills are sent to the committee for scrutinisation.
"In the first thirty years since our independence, only one ordinance was used for every 10 bills. Now almost four ordinances are used for every 10 bills. The BJP government is treating the emergency legislation as a normal legislation," he alleged.
"If Prime Minister Narendra Modi won't come to the Parliament for the OBC Bill then how will the questions be answered? Why the Prime Minister of India hasn't answered a single question on the floor of parliament in the last four or five years. Manmohan Singh answered 21 questions in four or five years. The government should answer this question instead of questioning us why we disrupted the parliament," he said further.
