Rajya Sabha: Opposition attacks government over black money, inequality

Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray charged the government of carrying out a “surgical attack” on federalism, and said the Centre had issued a “fatwa” to amend the All-India Services Cadre rules, allowing it more powers in their appointments. He called it “arbitrary” and a “veiled attempt” to centralise executive powers of the states.

He also attacked the Home Ministry for extending “the jurisdiction of the border security force from 15 km to 50 km in the states bordering Bangladesh and Pakistan without having any discussion with the states concerned. This unilateral decision on the part of the central government is an attempt of coercion upon the elected state governments having international borders.”

He said that inequality in the country had risen in the past few years. On the issue of black money, Ray asked the Centre to come up with a black paper, detailing what it has done to tackle the problem as revelations made by journalists through Panama Papers, Paradise Papers and, of late, Pandora Papers had named over a 1,000 Indians.

He also said that the government believes only it is telling the truth, while globally everyone else is lying when it comes to the Pegasus snooping row.

Tiruchi Siva of the DMK also criticised the government for the proposed amendment to the all-India service rules, calling it a “transgressing into the rights of the states”.

After the BJP had come to power, Siva said, “democracy is in peril, secularism is at stake, federalism is (being) targeted, states’ rights encroached and transgressed”. He added that the minorities were “unsafe” and accused the government of “tapping the poor and patting the rich”.

CPM’s Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya said that the President had not spoken about the basic realities of the country, which, he said were, “completely different from the rosy picture which has been sought to be projected by the deliberations of the honourable president.”

He also stated that the government is building Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s statue at the canopy at India Gate but does not believe in his ideology of respecting and giving equal share to the minorities.

Ramgopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party said he will support the motion, as per tradition, even though he said, “he does not agree with it”. He said that “one side has been presented; the other side has been blacked out.” The real situation, Yadav said, “should be a reflection about where we are working well, and where we have lacked, that can be improved. If you hide the faults, they will only accentuate.”

Bringing up Uttar Pradesh politics into his speech, as the state goes to polls in just a few days, he accused the country’s Home Minister and UP’s Chief Minister of using abusive language against SP leader Akhilesh Yadav. He said that it was due to Akhilesh Yadav’s growing popularity, that the government imposed restrictions on rallies through the “Commission” as BJP people were getting “beaten up”.

He also demanded that the caste census be made public, and said that though the government had appointed leaders from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Castes, “they are not allowed to open their mouths. How is this representation helping them? The President’s address is not reflecting reality.”