The Haryana Assembly today passed nine bills, including the Haryana Goods and Services Tax Bill, for which the one-day special session had been convened.
Apart from the GST Bill, the other proposed legislations which were passed include the Gurugram University Bill, moved by education minister Ram Bilas Sharma, to establish a teaching-cum-affiliating institute in Gurgaon.
The House witnessed heated exchanges between the opposition Congress and the ruling BJP over the passage of the bill. Congress MLA and former state education minister Geeta Bhukkal suggested that Gurugram University be named after B R Ambedkar.
Congress leader Karan Singh Dalal took strong objection to Sharma's comments that the University has not been named after any of the relatives of the ruling-BJP's leaders.
As Bhukkal was speaking on the Bill, she objected to a comment from the ruling benches on former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
"Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed his life for the sake of this nation. His mother and former PM Indira Gandhi too laid down her life for the country. How can you speak in this manner against Rajiv Gandhi," she said.
At this, state Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu told Bhukkal that there was no need to speak in a "threatening tone" and without naming Rajiv, he said, "Everyone is aware what he had said when the 1984 anti-Sikh riots took place."
BJP MLA Bakshish Singh Virk asked, "What sacrifice has Rajiv Gandhi made?"
Intervening in the matter, INLD MLA and Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala said it was during former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal's time in 1990s when Bharat Ratna was posthumously given to B R Ambedkar.
He alleged that the Congress had been using Ambedkar's name for their votebank.
To pacify Congress members, Ram Bilas Sharma said, "I am saying that Taj Mahal and even the Himalayas were built by the Congress."
The Assembly also passed the Chaudhary Ranbir Singh University, Jind (Amendment and Validation) Bill, the YMCA University of Science and Technology, Faridabdad (Amendment) Bill and the Haryana State University of Horticultural Sciences, Karnal (Amendment) Bill.
The Haryana Salaries and Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Bill, the Haryana Legislative Assembly Speaker's and Deputy Speaker's Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, the Haryana Legislative Assembly (Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill, were also passed.
The Indian Stamp (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2017 was also passed to rationalise the rate of stamp duty on transaction of instruments of security and commodity in order to increase the income of the State from stamp duty.
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