The Opposition — cutting across party lines — on Thursday severely criticised the Government’s decision to bring an Ordinance to implement the Food Security Bill. But the Congress hailed the move as historic and defending it on the ground that the UPA has been forced to take the Ordinance route as Opposition stalled Bill’s passage during the Budget Session of Parliament.
While leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj accused the Government of deliberately denigrating Parliament terming Ordinance a sign of early election, BJP president Rajnath Singh termed the move a “political gimmick in a hurry” before the general elections.
“The lok Sabha election is near. The Congress-led UPA is taking populist measures. The Food Security Bill is one of them. This Bill has some lacunae. We want to pass it with some modifications. We want a debate on this,” he said. Samajwadi Party, which despite supporting the UPA Government had in the past stalled the move, questioned the Government’s hurry.” SP spokesperson Ramgopal Yadav said that the Government could have waited for Monsoon Session to pass it after proper debate.
His party colleague Naresh Agrawal said the bill would “turn bread-givers (farmers) as beggars”. He said foreign companies coming into India through FDI were being facilitated to take away the lands of the farmers and get it mortgaged with them.
The left parties termed the UPA Government’s move to pass Ordinance on food security as “contempt of Parliament and anti-democratic”. CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said the Bill in its present form has serious flaws and it needed to be revised. “We have a lot of criticism about the Bill (in its present form). We will move amendments to the legislation,” he said.
CPI leader D Raja said, “I do not think the Congress party or the Congress-led UPA Government can hoodwink people, can deceive people showing this Ordinance. On this we want a thorough, comprehensive debate in Parliament and the Food Security Bill needs to be drastically amended.”
JD (U) president Sharad Yadav termed it as a hasty move and accused the Government of being gripped by the spectre of elections due to which it did not take Parliament into confidence. However, Information & Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari countered the charges saying that the government’s intention was to provide “food security to 81 crore Indians.”
Charging the Opposition of shedding “crocodile tears” over parliamentary propriety, Tewari said, “It is indeed amusing that the ones who are shedding crocodile tears on propriety are also the ones who have acquired a Phd in ‘disruptionites’.” In an apparent reference to the BJP, Tewari said the Opposition had shown scant respect for parliamentary traditions and added that two of its sessions had been washed out because of its stance.
Meanwhile, President Pranab Mukherjee is taking legal advice on the ordinance due to which it was not promulgated on Thursday. Due to this, the Congress, which had planned a Press conference by Food Minister KV Thomas to take the credit for the party president Sonia Gandhi’s game changer dream project, had to postpone the press conference.
Activists under the aegis of Right to Food Campaign, said that they are appalled by the undemocratic decision of bringing an ordinance as implementation is the collective responsibility of all so the Bill should have been discussed in Monsoon session of Parliament which is just few weeks away. “The campaign condemns this highhanded decision making style of the Government in this matter,” they said.
Even economists are also not happy with the move. Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen said that the food security programme will put pressure on the exchequer, and Government’s expenditure would overshoot estimates.