By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday slammed the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for acting “undemocratically” in the Rajya Sabha and not letting the Lokpal bill get through.
Drawing parallels with the speech of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the eve on India’s Independence, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said: “At the stroke of midnight hour when the world slept, India awoke to a fraud being played on its parliamentary democracy.”
“If that was freedom at midnight, this is ‘flee-dom’ at midnight,” he said.
The leader of opposition in parliament’s upper house said the house sitting could have been extended after midnight if the government wanted.
“They could have continued the session after midnight. There have been incidents in the past when the session has continued after midnight,” Jaitley said.
Asked bout the role of Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President Hamid Ansari, he said: “I have a strong view on it but I would keep it to myself.”
He added that even getting the president’s permission for extending the house was not difficult, had the government wanted it.
The BJP rejected the government’s allegation of the opposition being responsible for the Lokpal bill not being passed.
“It was their allies who changed their stand, BJP had not supported the Lokpal bill in the Lok Sabha either. Why are they blaming us for their failure?” Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said.
Comparing Thursday night’s events with the disrobing of mythological character ‘Draupadi’ from the epic Mahabharata, she attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for watching it the chaos mutely.
“Leaders of both houses were present, and they not just witnessed quietly but were part of the conspiracy,” she alleged.
Sushma Swaraj said her party’s core committee will meet later Friday to decide the course of action on the events.
Replying to the government’s allegation that the opposition could have passed the Lokpal bill as passed by the Lok Sabha, Jaitley said amendments were the opposition’s right.
“There was no disturbance and counter disturbance, there was only orchestrated disturbance,” he added.