Opposition: Govt breaks promise; BJP: Govt going by rulebook

New Delhi: Opposition parties have alleged that the government reneged on its promise to send certain bills for select committee scrutiny and also listed bills late in the night. BJP, however, maintained that the government was “going by the rulebook.”

Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha soon after Zero Hour, leader of opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said opposition leaders had identified six bills during a meeting with parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi last Thursday in Chairman Venkaiah Naidu’s chamber. “We wanted the RTI bill to be sent to the select committee… You tell members to be present for a meeting and we remain under the illusion this bill is going to the select committee but not sent,” Azad said. “We gave a list of 23 bills, of which six where in category A, as we wanted them to be definitely sent to the select committee. We also mentioned two more bills,” Azad told media persons later during a joint briefing of opposition parties. “Triple talaq bill was on top in the A category. Despite this, the government bulldozed the bill by listing it late in the night.” The Congress leader said it was the first bill proposed for the select committee.

An opposition MP told ET that government and opposition had agreed to send at least the bill to ban instant talaq and UAPA amendment bill to the select committee.


Union minister Prakash Javadekar responded that the Chair had already said that eight out of 10 bills in last two years were sent to the select committee. “This shows the intention of the government. UAPA was not sent to select committee during the UPA government,” he said.

BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Bhupender Yadav said: “The government is going by the rulebook. As far as list of business is concerned, revised list of business only gets uploaded in the evening.

There is nothing new in that.” The opposition also alleged that the government listed bills late in the night. Triple talaq bill was listed around 9:30 pm on Monday on the Rajya Sabha website. “We were not able to issue a whip to our MPs and they couldn’t come. We were informed at 10 in the night on Monday,” Azad said. Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien alleged that the government was in a hurry to pass bills like ‘pizza delivery’ and it was against a democratic set up.