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New Parliament gets off to a stormy start as Oppn and govt trade barbs
Union finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman criticised leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge for making “sweeping, generalised” comments
On the first day of the Rajya Sabha convening in the new Parliament building, angry exchanges between the government and the opposition marked the proceedings that began on Tuesday afternoon.
The government side took umbrage at Congress president and leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge’s comment that all political parties tend to choose “kamzor (weak) women candidates” instead of picking “saksham (competent) candidates” and for alleging that the Union government has “weakened federalism” by engineering the fall of elected governments and delayed the release of funds for non-BJP-ruled states under various heads, including GST.
The statement evoked a sharp response from Union finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, who criticised Kharge for making “sweeping, generalised” comments.
While speaking in the Upper House in the context of the women’s reservation bill that was tabled in the Lok Sabha and is expected to come up for passage in the Rajya Sabha later this week, Kharge made a reference to reservation for women Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who have lower literacy levels and are picked by political parties as they are perceived to not be assertive.
While the government side rose in protest, Kharge clarified that he was not singling out any party, but went on to say that women from the reserved sections are lagging as they are not allowed to speak.
Calling Kharge’s statement as “unacceptable”, Sitharaman said she objected to the generalisation. “We have all been empowered by our party and our PM. The Rashtrapati Droupadi Murmu ji is an empowered woman. Every woman MP of my party is an empowered woman,” she said. She said the premise of the argument that women from the marginalised sections are not empowered is proved wrong as the President herself is from a scheduled tribe community.
“He cannot differentiate between women...We are asking for reservation for all women,” she said even as Kharge stuck to his stance.
Sitharaman also vehemently contested Kharge’s statement that Opposition-ruled states are made to wait for months for release of dues under heads such as wages for MNREGA work and GST collection. She said the states do not provide utilisation certificates on time and said Kharge made a “factually incorrect” statement. The FM informed the House she has had to borrow money on three occasions to ensure that states have funds in advance. Following their exchange, chairman Jagdeep Dhankar asked both members to substantiate their claims by the end of the day.
Kharge’s comment on erosion of the federal structure came in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement about the government strengthening competitive cooperative federalism.
“Federal structure is being weakened under your leadership day-by-day...” Kharge said and accused the BJP of engineering the fall of governments in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Manipur.
This remark also drew objections from parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan. While Pradhan made a mention of how the 14th finance commission announced a quantum jump in the allocation to states irrespective of who they voted for, Joshi said when the PM spoke it was “unbiased” and “apolitical” and Kharge should speak like a statesman.
While both sides exchanged words, Kharge took a swipe at the PM who was present in the House. He said the PM who made three statements in a single day and can speak for hours has not yet said anything on Manipur. The House was then adjourned for the day.
