No breakthrough in government-Opposition meeting on SIR discussion in Parliament

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said there was no assurance from the government on the timeline of when the discussion will be taken up

There was no breakthrough in the meeting between the government and the Opposition parties on the issue of taking up a discussion on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Parliament.

Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, who met leaders of Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday, said the discussion will take place, but the Opposition cannot put a condition on the timeline.

Opposition leaders said there is no clarity on when the discussion on the issue will be taken up. “We told the government that they should come and announce that the discussion on SIR will be taken up on Wednesday in the Lok Sabha and then the Rajya Sabha… but they are not doing that,” TMC leader Derek O’Brien said after the meeting.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said there was no assurance from the government on the timeline of when the discussion will be taken up. “There is a huge trust deficit which is simply unbridgeable owing to how the government behaves with the Opposition,” he said.

The Opposition has rallied to push for a discussion on the SIR. In the Rajya Sabha, TMC, Congress, and DMK lawmakers trooped into the Well, raising slogans demanding an assurance on when the discussion will be taken up on the issue. They pointed out that as many as 28 Block Level Officers involved in SIR had passed away.

Opposition members criticised Rajya Sabha chairman CP Radhakrisnan for not reading out the names of the members, who had given notices under Rule 267, that were not admitted. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, the Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha, said it was the tradition followed in both Houses that the chair reads out the names of the members and the issues they had sought discussion on under Rule 267. Members can seek suspension of the listed business to take up pressing issues under Rule 267.

An Opposition leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government is keen on a discussion on Vande Mataram, the national song that completes 150 years, first, and then take up SIR. “They want to push the discussion on SIR to next week when there will barely be time to take up the important issue,” the leader said.