Farm stir, Bengal polls dominate Lok Sabha debate on Prez speech
The ongoing farmers protest dominated the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s speech, which resumed in the Lok Sabha on Monday after four consecutive days of disruption.
The debate started after protracted backchannel negotiations involving defence minister Rajnath Singh and Opposition leaders. Singh appealed to the Opposition not to break the longstanding tradition of the House to debate the President’s speech before anything else.
Locket Chatterjee, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member from Bengal, initiated the debate and focused entirely on attacking the eastern state’s ruling Trinamool
NEW DELHI:
Congress, with an eye on the upcoming assembly polls.
Speaking in Hindi, Bengali and English, Chatterjee said Trinamool stole ration provided by the Centre during the pandemic, tents during the Amphan cyclone and even Covid-19 vaccines. She said the BJP will not allow anyone to make Bengal into “East Pakistan”.
“Mamata (Banerjee) government insults Ram and Sita. They (Bengal government) practise appeasement politics. They practice politics of 30%. We will not allow making Bengal into East Pakistan,” she said. Bengal is scheduled to go to the polls in April-may.
Congress floor leader Adhir Chowdhury demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the Republic Day vandalism in Delhi’s Red Fort and alleged it was the government that sent “vandals” to defame the farmers agitation. He demanded another parliamentary investigation into the alleged TRP (target rating point) scam.
“How can some people reach the Red Fort, that too on January 26 when the highest level of security was in place in Delhi?” he asked.
“Why isn’t there a proper investigation into it,” he alleged.
Chowdhury alleged the government “trapped” farmers and criticised the government for what he saw as a bid to “create a rift between Punjab and other states,” referring to the government’s stand that only one state had a problem with the new farm laws.
He also wondered why the government is making “Greta a persona non grata”, referring to climate activist Greta Thunberg’s support for the farm stir and the consequent backlash.
The second speaker, BJP’S Virendra Kumar, maintained that the Narendra Modi government was committed to the welfare of farmers and was trying to double the their income through various measures.
Trinamool’s Mahua Moitra lashed out at the BJP and alleged that the ruling dispensation was making “hate and bigotry” a part of its narrative.
The government’s decision to impose a nationwide lockdown following the outbreak of COVID-19 inflicted “untold misery” on people with “lakhs of people” forced to walk to their homes, she alleged.