ON July 30, the government came under fire from one of the NDA partners, the Shiv Sena, over the UTI scam. During the Short Duration discussion in Rajya Sabha, when a Shiv Sena member accused the prime minister’s office (PMO) of having influenced the UTI’s investment decisions, it caused a great deal of embarrassment to the treasury benches.

Both houses of parliament were adjourned on July 31. When the issues of the PMO’s involvement in UTI scam figured again in Rajya Sabha, the pandemonium led to an adjournment of the house. The opposition forced the finance minister to withdraw his remarks against a member of the house, and the chairman had to intervene. On the day, Lok Sabha saw the first adjournment when BSP members rushed to the well of the house, demanding dismissal of the UP government for its failure to prevent anti-Dalit atrocities. The second adjournment occurred on the prime minister’s offer of resignation at the BJP parliamentary party meeting. The issue was taken up by the opposition, led by the Left and RJD members who vociferously demanded a statement from the prime minister. This led to a pandemonium in the house and finally an adjournment for the day.

On August 1, opposition members in Lok Sabha sought a clarification on the home minister’s statement on the killing of Phoolan Devi, a member of the Lok Sabha. The CPI(M)’s Somnath Chatterjee sharply criticised the home minister’s statement and said it did not reflect the seriousness of the situation. The murder has given rise to a sense of insecurity and showed the total collapse of the security system or the law and order system in Delhi. The member asked why there was no armed police to protect her. A dastardly crime was committed in broad daylight, but not a head has rolled up till now. The whole country is concerned about it.

Coming to the home minister’s reference to criminalisation of politics, Chatterjee raised the issue of the Vohra committee report, asking what the government had done to date to implement it.

On August 2, Lok Sabha rejected by voice vote, amid uproarious scenes, an opposition-sponsored adjournment motion censoring the government on the UTI mess. But an obstinate government had to ultimately come down to accepting the opposition demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the UTI scam. Now the JPC that is probing the capital market scam, will also probe the UTI scam.

The house witnessed slogan shouting and counter shouting between the treasury benches and the opposition. The opposition strongly protested when George Fernandes, a tainted former minister who is facing a probe by the Venkataswami commission on Tehelka issue, sought to issue a certificate of good conduct to the finance minister, Yashwant Sinha. During the debate on the motion, almost all the speakers from opposition benches targeted the finance minister for his failure to manage the UTI affairs and strongly demanded his resignation. Some of Sinha’s utterances provoked the opposition members to troop into the well of the house.

From the CPI(M), Rupchand Pal and Somnath Chatterjee participated in the debate in Lok Sabha. Pal said the UTI’s sudden decision to freeze the sale and repurchase of its units was an affront to two crore small investors of this country. One of the most important findings of the last JPC was that the UTI has no assured income or regular income scheme. AS its schemes are equity-based, nobody is sure of returns due to the ups and down of stock market. But the UTI did not heed to this warning. The Deepak Parekh committee appointed by the UTI had made wide ranging recommendations including reconstruction of US-64 scheme for granting tax incentives and exemptions, but nothing was done to implement these recommendations.

The CPI(M) members also reminded how the UTI, that had substantial stakes in companies like Reliance and ITC, had decided to go in for strategic sale. The UTI decided on a strategic sale after there were pressures from Mumbai based companies, the ITC and Infosys. Here lies the real secret --- it meant serving the corporate interests at the cost of small investors, serving the same corporate groups who have been looting the UTI. But the government sat tight and did not respond.

Referring to the Reliance and Hinduja factor, Pal said it was they who decided everything earlier and are deciding everything now. In the name of reforms, virtually all the financial institutions, like the UTI, have been looted. The Life Insurance Corporation of India, the General Insurance Corporation of India and other financial institutions have been investing in worthless shares. Out of more than 1400 companies the UTI invested in, only 81 are doing well. Pal then charged the government with acting hand in glove with the operatives, as a result of which a series of scams had taken place. After the finance minister presented his "dream budget," the stock market scam took place. Then came the excise scam. And now we have the UTI scam. The people have been putting all their life savings in these institutions and banks, but the government has brought down the interest rates. The need is to thoroughly revamp the US-64 as it is better than many other mutual funds. Pal concluded with the demand that the finance minister should accept his responsibility for the scam and quit.

During the Lok Sabha discussion on the recent Agra summit between India and Pakistan, Somnath Chatterjee, CPI(M), said the outcome had belied the expectations of the people of both countries. Having pointed out that India’s foreign policy under this government has ceased to be a national foreign policy, Chatterjee gave instances to substantiate his accusation that the government of acting in an amateurish manner. Even the opposition parties were consulted only a few days before the actual holding of the conference. Yet, he said, everything has not been lost and that the peace process can still be resumed.

A very important thing in this regard is that Jammu & Kashmir’s demand of autonomy has been completely jettisoned. Recalling how J&K acceded to Indian Union and how article 370 represents the country’s commitment to the people of J&K, Chatterjee said the state’s people had rejected the two-nation theory. But what has been the home minister’s response to their aspirations? The BJP government is only creating a situation that will be exploited by those on the other side of the border. Chatterjee warned that cross-border terrorism or proxy war cannot be fought without the willing support of the people of Kashmir.

Chatterjee reminded that India and Pakistan have similar problems like hunger, poverty, illiteracy, lack of development, unemployment. Hence a regime of peace is necessary in the region and therefore the peace talks must continue. Apart from Kashmir, there are many vital issues between the two countries like trade and commerce, cultural exchange and the issue of people to people relations, river water distribution, and so on. They should also be discussed. Both the countries will have to behave in a responsible manner as the entire sub-continent faces a grave nuclear threat today.

One great handicap today is that we have a government that behaves in an ad-hoc manner. It is because of the motley combination whose members are pulling in different directions. Hence the ineptitude, inefficiency and callousness with which the government dealt with the summit. Chatterjee demanded that the government take the house into confidence and tell how it is going to take part in the future discussions, if any.

Both house of parliament have okayed the imposition of president’s rule in Manipur. In the debate that took place in both houses on the issue, the CPI(M)’s Bajuban Reang (Lok Sabha) and Sarla Maheswari (Rajya Sabha) clarified that the CPI(M) is supporting the president’s rule in Manipur as a special case. Manipur is burning today. Offices of most of the political parties have been burnt down, damaged or ransacked. It is the unwise attitude of our central governments, their insensitivity towards the north eastern states that created this situation in Manipur today. The BJP too played the politics of opportunism and engineered defections in Manipur. Then it signed a ceasefire agreement with a Naga rebel group without taking the north eastern states into confidence and without confining the area of ceasefire to Nagaland. It is clear that there was no constitutional crisis in Manipur; in fact it was the BJP’s opportunism that created the conditions for imposition of president’s rule there. The entire series of events shows that the BJP government has no respect for the democratic sentiments of the people of Manipur or of the other states of the region that has been thoroughly neglected since independence.