Attacking the NDA government for merely paying lip-service to the uplift of Dalits and other weaker sections of the society, BSP supremo Mayawati on Monday said PM Narendra Modi should have announced reservations for SCs/STs in private sector jobs as well as in promotions in government service during his intervention in Lok Sabha last week.
Mayawati also held the government responsible for the “growing intolerance, communalism and anarchy” in the country, while speaking during the debate on ‘Commitment to the Constitution’ in Rajya Sabha, even as she demanded strict action against minister of state General V K Singh (retd) for his “dog remark” in the context of the murder of two Dalit children in Faridabad.
“Such people should be sent to jail as they deserve to be there and not in Parliament”, she said, accusing the PM of remaining silent and not taking action against his own ministerial and party colleagues for making “crude and provocative” communal and casteist remarks.
Earlier, initiating the debate on the second day, parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu asked opposition members to respect the mandate of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Maintaining there was no surge in intolerance after PM Modi had taken charge, he said, “Let us tolerate the mandate of the people, we must respect that, whether you like it or not is not the issue.”
Naidu appealed for a broad consensus among political parties on important issues and concerns, ranging from a uniform civil code and gender equality to reservations and regional disparity, by rising above narrow point-scoring about achievements of one government over the other. “I am speaking from my heart…we should remember what were the expectations of the founding fathers of our Constitution. We should take stock of the situation and then move forward,” he said.
This, however, cut no ice with Mayawati. Neither the present NDA government, nor the previous UPA one, had taken concrete steps to help Dalits, OBCs and religious minorities get all the benefits in line with the principles enshrined in the Constitution. “That is why Babasaheb B R Ambedkar had said that backward sections should acquire political power as a master key to get all benefits under the provisions of the Constitution,” she said
The BSP leader alleged the CBI had been misused in the past to falsely implicate her in the Taj Corridor scam, and the same was being done again in the NRHM scam ahead of elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Praful Patel of NCP said the administration cannot remain quiet saying these were “stray incidents” and added that individual views will be reflected as government’s views if these were not contradicted properly.
Nominated member K T S Tulsi expressed surprise that the home minister was not outraged by intolerance but by secularism. He also claimed that Indian Muslims have been loyal and patriotic citizens because of secularism.
Tulsi said a few incidents did create a sense of fear among sensitive artistes and they expressed their dissent in the form of returning the awards.
During the debate, BJP’s M J Akbar said Ambedkar was called the principal architect of the Constitution. He mentioned that Ambedkar was disappointed with then PM Jawaharlal Nehru after the historic “objective resolution” was passed in the Constituent Assembly in 1946.
“On December 17, 1946, Ambedkar said about Nehru: It was disappointing. I expected him to go further. There cannot be any rights without remedy’.”
Talking about making India a modern nation, Akbar said modernity, faith equality, gender equality and economic equity — are key qualities which are required for making the country a modern nation.
Referring to gender equality, he questioned why there is no gender equality when it comes to Muslim women. He said that Nehru had brought Hindu Code Bills in 1950s to ensure gender equality for Hindus but did not think about Muslim women then because he felt the time was not apt.
On economic-equity too, he said the Constitution spoke poverty alleviation and the poverty level has come down to 30% after 65 years of Independence. “People are asking now how many more years would the government take to bring down poverty to zero level. We must be united to eliminate poverty,” he said. Akbar said that political parties should fight election thinking that it would be the first election to eliminate poverty and giving a direction for youth for the future.
Congress MP Ashwani Kumar said there was ‘intolerance and anarchy’ in the country as the “basic tenets of Constitution are challenged today’. He said, “We have different kind of anarchy…and it is increasing. You are creating an atmosphere where nobody has courage to express their views. Self respect is at stake. Don’t take away the rights from people.”
Bhupinder Singh of BJD said the Dadri incident in which two Dalit children were killed was not an insignificant one and this was time for introspection. He said there have been assaults on the Constitution and this should be checked.
NCP’s Majeed Memon said during the last 18 months, there is a sense of insecurity among a large number of citizens including Dalits and Muslims in the wake of recent incidents. He said that highly objectionable statements by Union ministers has fuelled the sense of insecurity and several eminent scholars who returned their awards in anguish unfortunately were branded “anti-nationals” and “traitors”.