Nirmala Sitharaman holds mirror to Opposition over allegations of 'hasty passage of bills'

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday came down heavily at the Opposition over the 'false claims' that suggests bills were passed in a hurry during the ongoing Monsoon session of Parliament. Refuting the Opposition's claims, the Union Finance Minister asked the Opposition to check its own record. She recalled the times when the UPA Government had passed bills in a hurry without discussion. She also stated that senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal had admitted that eleven bills were passed in a hurry in 2007 during and similarly constitutional bills were passed hastily in 2011, both during the UPA Government.

She also expressed the Government's willingness to have a discussion in the Parliament while lashing out at the Opposition for resorting to disruption of the Parliament.

"Opposition is saying that we're passing bills in a hasty manner; 11 bills in 2007 and in 2011, constitution bills were passed in a hurry. Congress' Kapil Sibal has admitted to it. We're are asking the Opposition to discuss and yet they make such claims," Nirmala Sitharaman said while speaking to ANI outside Parliament.

"Check your own record. Since I am from the Southern part of India, I would like to highlight, in 2014, hows was the AP reorganisation Act passed? Opposition should also introspect on that. After passing the AP Reorganisation Act hastily, does the Opposition have any moral right to question us?" she said while lashing out at the Opposition.

This reaction from Sitharaman comes after the Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien had targeted the Government for hasty passage of bills during the Monsoon session of the Parliament. The Trinamool Congress MP had compared the parliamentary proceedings to that of 'Papri Chaat'

"No bills passed in first week of monsoon session... Then Modi-Shah bulldozed 22 bills in 8 days at an average time of UNDER 10 MINUTES per Bill... Modiji, challenge these new numbers as I enjoy another plate of PAPRI CHAAT!" he tweeted.

Parliament disruption by Opposition

The ruckus in both the Houses of Parliament continued with logjam and sloganeering by Opposition, resulting in adjournment in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. On Friday, the Lok Sabha was initially adjourned till 12 PM and the sloganeering continued later on as well; meanwhile, Rajya Sabha was adjourned till Monday, August 9. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was seen repeatedly requesting the protesting members to return to their seats. However, the members did not pay any heed to the request. While the ruckus was going on in the House, important discussions including air pollution and malnutrition topics were getting discussed, when Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani was answering the questions. 

Pegasus Politics

Since the commencement of the Monsoon session, the Opposition has been cornering the Central Government over the alleged Pegasus snoopgate and has disrupted the Parliament proceedings, leading to continuous adjournment of Parliament. The Pegasus story was released by several international and certain domestic media houses the evening before the Monsoon session of the Parliament was to begin on July 19, after which the Parliament saw adjournments due to disruption by the Opposition over the Pegasus row. 

While the Opposition accused the Central Government of spying on the Indian citizens, the Central Government has refuted the allegations and accused the Opposition of derailing the Parliament. The Centre has said Opposition doesn't want crucial bills to be discussed and passed, hence resorting to Parliament disruption. Deputy Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha and Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday said that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs are trying to repeat Bengal violence in the Parliament.