In Parliament: DMK’s Maran and Union minister Piyush Goyal engage in heated spat, Speaker issues warning

“I would urge you not to indulge in allegations and counter allegations during the Question Hour.. you should stick to the question as listed,” Birla told both sides of the House. The remark came after DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran and Union Minister Piyush Goyal engaged in a heated spat, using the terms that had to be expunged from the records.

During a question on 4G mobiles, Maran, a former union minister, wanted to know when the 4G and 5G services would be provided to BSNL and MTNL. “The former telecom minister had assured in this house.. Till date, we have seen no signs of BSNL or MTNL starting 4G services. In fact, they have been losing customers to Jio, which is supported by the Government where the Prime Minister himself was in the photo of the advertisement,” Maran said, provoking Goyal to take offence to the reference to the Prime Minister. But Maran repeated it and said he was stating a fact.

Goyal along with others like Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi protested pointing out that there were irregularities during the UPA regime in which Maran was a minister. “He called me corrupt. How can he call me and I have been given a clean chit?” Maran was heard shouting.

With more Opposition MPs joining to support Maran, the Speaker issued the warning. But when Communications Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw replied, he slammed the Opposition. “People who have a very different past are trying to put allegations. I would like to understand the reason why BSNL went into such a bad situation. Who are responsible for that?” he asked amidst the Opposition uproar. Lauding PM Modi for taking the telecom sector out of a “difficult situation”, Vaishnaw said, “First time, the Government is taking steps to develop our own indigenous 4G and 5G technologies, which will be our own 4G and 5G core technology. We will prove to the world that Indian engineers and scientists are going to develop the best core technology, the best radio technology where our products will go out to the world, not like the situation when some of our friends almost killed the organisation because of their own actions.”

Replying to a question raised by Congress MP Manish Tewari, Vaishnaw said India has moved ahead of the curve when it comes to decision on the purchase of telecom equipment, components and system from a trusted source because it has “serious repercussions on technology-based security. “So, without taking the name of any particular company, I would like to say that whatever procurement is happening for 5G, it is happening under the trusted sources regime,” he said. Tewari asked whether the government had refused permission for the Chinese state-owned company Huawei to participate in the 5G trial as it was deemed to be a security risk.

The minister took a swipe at the Opposition when Congress MP Hibi Eden asked whether the government has any plans to strengthen the cyber laws against cyberbullying in the wake of the cyber world becoming more accessible to children due to the pandemic restrictions. “If we tighten the cyber laws even a little, there would be hue and cry over it saying that we are trying to strangle the constitution. We did that.. we did this.. With cyber crime affecting the children and with the speed its dimensions are changing, I must say that there is an increasing impression that there’s need for stringent regulation on them,”Vaishnaw said.

If the Question Hour witnessed angry exchanges between the Opposition and treasury benches, it was the Opposition MPs shouting at each other during the Zero Hour. When CPI(M) MP AM Ariff from Kerala raised the issue of “unannounced release of water” from Mullaperiyar dam, the MPs from Tamil Nadu protested. Pointing out that the residents living downstream of the dam have been living in fear, Ariff said the “only permanent solution to the eternal threat to the safety concerns of 126-year old existing Mullaperiyar dam, and to protect the safety of lakhs of people living in the downstream of the dam, is to build a new dam in the downstream reaches of the existing dam” and sought the Centre’s intervention. When Tamil Nadu MPs stood up to say the dam is safe, other MPs from Kerala rose to shout them down. The melee went on for a few minutes till the Speaker intervened to calm both the MPs down.

Later, Ariff took strong exception to his fellow Kerala MP and IUML leader ET Mohammad Basheer seeking the Union Government’s intervention in deterring the LDF government from embarking on the flagship semi high-speed railway project. Basheer argued that the 529.45 kms-long railway line project was conducted without any necessary surveys. “The DPR prepared is mostly based on assumptions and hypothesis. Cost estimates, traffic projections and economics of the line are not reliable,” said Basheer to which Ariff protested loudly.