Cong slams govt, stages walkout
Press trust of india
New Delhi, July 19: Buoyed by the Supreme Court verdict on Arunachal Pradesh, Congress Tuesday slammed the government in Lok Sabha, accusing it of “destabilising” its governments in states, a charge rejected by home minister Rajnath Singh.
Congress members also staged a walkout even as Singh said the “internal crisis” of Congress was responsible for the controversial developments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and that “a boat is bound to sink if it has a hole”.
The issue was raised by Leader of Congress in the House Mallikarjun Kharge, who said that on the one hand, the Modi government was celebrating the 125th birthday of BR Ambedkar and on the other hand, it was “murdering” democracy by toppling popular governments.
“You have decided to execute your Congress-mukt (Congress-free) slogan by any means. Wherever you get a chance, you destabilise governments and work to replace them with yours. You did so in Uttarakhand and Arunachal and tried in Manipur and Himachal Pradesh too. This is good neither for the public nor Constitution,” he said.
“We thank the Supreme Court for upholding the Constitution. Its order is historic and will be written in golden letters. You do not have the numbers, but you want to grab power by the back door. It has become your nature. Democracy is being repressed, murdered,” said Kharge during the Zero Hour.
“The Supreme Court has slapped you and, hopefully, you will not do such things again,” he said, referring to the recent verdict of the apex court to restore the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh, which had been dismissed by the Centre months back.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had restored the Congress government in Uttarakhand also after it was dismissed by the Centre. Responding to the charge, the Home Minister said the Congress governments in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh fell due to the opposition by its own MLAs. He, however, made no mention of the Supreme Court orders which had led to the restoration of Congress dispensations, dealing a blow to the Centre.
BJP had nothing to do with what happened in the two states, Singh said, adding “if any party has this very old habit of toppling popular governments, then it is Congress”.
While attacking Congress, Singh said its governments at the centre had toppled governments in states 105 times. He said the crisis in the two states was “unfortunate” and destabilisation of popularly-elected governments was not good for healthy democracy.
BOX:
Bill introduced to amend Citizenship Act
New Delhi: Keeping its promise to provide succour to refugees from neighbouring countries, the government Tuesday introduced a bill in Parliament to amend the Citizenship Act so that Hindus, Sikhs and other minorities of these nations could be granted citizenship even if they do not provide the required documents. Introducing the bill in Lok Sabha, home minister Rajnath Singh said many persons of Indian origin of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have applied for citizenship but are unable to provide proof of their Indian origin.
