New Delhi:
A day after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP of preventing the passage of anti-corruption bills in the House, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley has hit back.
Writing in his blog, Mr Jaitley asked Mr Gandhi to check his facts. "Not a single BJP Member has disturbed the proceedings of either of the two Houses of Parliament. No BJP member has gone into the well of the House. We assemble every morning in Parliament. The Houses are disturbed on account of the issues relating to bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh which is pending consideration," he wrote. "A large number of members of the Congress Party disturb the Houses every day. I don't think Rahul Gandhi has had time to either come to the House or acquaint himself with the disturbance being created by his own Party members."
As the two main parties trade barbs, the fate of crucial legislation hangs in the balance.
Among these is the Whistleblowers' Protection Bill that seeks to give legal protection to those who fight corruption without fearing for their lives. Activists say at least 30 whistleblowers were killed last year.
The Citizens' Charter and Grievance Redress Bill, tabled in December 2011, focuses on ensuring time bound delivery of goods and services for citizens. It is this piece of legislation that has brought 27-year-old Machiya Devi to the capital from Bishanpur in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district. Protesting outside the offices of both the Congress and the BJP, with her three-year-old son in tow, she says, "There is no road in our village, no school, and there are times when we get ration just once in four months. We want a better future for our children."
A long due amendment to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) is also pending. Without this change, oral morphine that helps many cancer patients deal with excruciating pain is not easily available. The bill is pending since last year's budget session.
Another bill that awaits Parliament's sanction is the Rights of Persons with Disability Bill. The Bill expands the definition of disabilities to include 19 physical and mental disabilities like autism spectrum disorder, thalassemia, haemophilia, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy and provides for a five per cent reservation in government jobs and reservation in higher educational institutions.
Most of this session has been a near washout with repeated disruptions over Telangana. With it now in its final stretch, the lives and hopes of many depend on whether our lawmakers can rise above the chaos especially on these legislations that many among them have supported and called non contentious.