People's Democracy

The Week In Parliament

Subhas Ray

ON the first day of the second week of the winter session, Lok Sabha repealed POTA and passed a new bill, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Bill, 2004 in its place. Both the bills – the bill to repeal POTA and the bill as its replacement – were clubbed together and passed by voice vote as the BJP and its allies staged a walk out from the House just before the voting. The BJP and its allies demanded that the POTA (Repeal) Bill to be referred to the standing committee and sensing the atmosphere in the House in favour of the immediate passing of the Bill, they staged a walk out.

As far as the new bill, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Bill was concerned, the Left, Samajwadi Party and others expressed apprehensions that certain provisions of the Bill that were similar in nature to POTA could be misused. They demanded the government to refer the Bill to a select committee, so that it could be studied and scrutinised properly. The government took the stand that since the ordinance to amend the Prevention of Unlawful Activities Act would lapse on January 12, 2005, the bill has to be passed within this session. Therefore there was no time to discuss the bill in detail in any select committee.

LIVELY DEBATE

As many as 23 members participated in the debate on these two bills. The UPA and its allies sharply accused the previous BJP-led NDA government of misusing the law to terrorise minorities and intimidate political opponents. They demanded repeal of POTA with retrospective effect and release of all those arrested under it.  CPI(M) deputy leader in the house, Md Salim pointed out the fact that the house was discussing this issue on a black day, December 6 when Babri Masjid was demolished by communal fanatics. He said there could be no justification for any act of terrorism. He reminded the commitment made in UPA government’s CMP where it was emphatically stated that there will be no compromise in the fight against terrorism. However, it also promised that given the abuse of POTA that had taken place during the previous regime, the UPA government would repeal the Act.

Salim emphasised that POTA was not a new law. It was a continuation of the earlier draconian laws like TADA, NASA, MISA etc. All these black laws shared a history of blatant abuse and misue. In Gujarat, TADA was misused under both the Congress and BJP rule. However, the BJP very methodically misused the black law against minorities, particularly in Gujarat and Jharkhand, where it was in power on its own. In Jharkhand POTA was being used against the tribals, scheduled castes, poor people, women, trade union activists and even against children. It has surpassed the misuse in J&K.

Pointing out that the obnoxious provisions of TADA, which were abused and misused had been included in POTA, Salim said the possibility of misusing the provisions of the new Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act would remain. Unless these provisions are removed from the Bill it would be considered a mere cosmetic change, he said. He also noted that all such black laws have been brought through ordinance route.

Salim made it clear that the CPI(M) was supporting this bill without a thorough scrutiny only because of the compulsion of preventing the lapse of these bills. He however strongly urged the home minister to refer the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Bill to the Standing Committee on Home Affairs and discuss section-wise to ensure that there should have no such provision which could be misused. It should be ensured that common citizens are not terrorised in the name of controlling terrorism, he said.

CPI(M) member Nikhilananda Sar also spoke supporting the two bills. He also demanded that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Bill should be sent to the Standing Committee for Home Affairs for further discussion. He said CPI(M) is against all such black laws which curtail the rights of the people. Sar felt that the wrong policies pursued by previous governments since Independence have led to a situation where the national unity of the country is under threat. He pointed to the recent situation in Manipur, which has been rocked by protests against the repression of security forces. He felt that blanket powers granted under the Army Special Protection Act has resulted in its misuse and thus fuelled the discontent.

Referring to another crucial aspect of the situation, Sar pointed out that in the tiny state of Manipur, which has a population of only 26 lakh, the registered unemployed number five lakh.  There was only one ITI in that state to supply skilled workers. He demanded that the central government must take steps to improve the lot of people and not just rely on repressive measures. “There is a distinction between discontentment among people and anti-national activities. Anti-national activities must be viewed seriously, but measures must be taken to remove such discontentment through policies. You cannot suppress the movement of the people. The government must take pro-people policies. The UPA government, with its Common Minimum Programme, must be sincere in tackling the problems of the people”, so saying concluded Nikhalananda Sar.

ON PRICE RISE ISSUE

Lok Sabha witnessed a lengthy discussion on the issue of price rise.  As many as 27 members participated in the discussion. Initiating the discussion, CPI(M) leader, Basudeb Acharia said the poor of the country are reeling under the impact of the sharp increase in prices of essential commodities. Pointing at the wide variation between the Wholesale Price Index and Consumer Price Index, Acharia stressed that unless the public distribution system (PDS) is universalised and more items included in the list of items for distribution, the livelihood of the poorer sections of our society cannot be saved.

He blasted the previous NDA regime for dismantling the Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM). This went against the major objective of self-reliance, which was meant to protect the larger sections of the Indian poor and lower middle class who use kerosene, LPG and public transport. Consequently the price of petrol and diesel was almost doubled. The price of LPG was increased from Rs 141 to Rs 235. It was increased by almost Rs 100 during the period of NDA rule. Kerosene which was available at Rs 2.75 was increased to Rs 9.

Saying this increase in the price of petroleum products, as always, was having a cascading effect on other commodities and services, particularly on the transport which is being used by the common people, Acharia demanded the government to urgently review the dismantling of the administered price mechanism. The import parity policy of the government has adversely affected the common people of our country. This has eroded the real income of our people because of increase in the prices of all essential commodities. He demanded a complete roll back of the price increase of the petroleum products. He also demanded strengthening of the PDS in order to protect the poor from such hikes.

Participating in the discussion, CPI(M) member, Lonappan Nambadan largely dwelt on how this hike was having an adverse impact on the lives of people of Kerala. The hike in railway freight charges due to this increase in prices of petroleum products has hit the state hard as it imports a wide range of goods, from iron, steel, cement, metal, to rice, sugar, wheat, stationery goods, vegetables etc. The prices of consumer goods also increased considerably in Kerala. The hike in the price of diesel has resulted in higher farming expenditure and higher losses. The expenses to reach the agricultural products to the market also have increased. Another area impacted by the petro hike was fishing. Lakhs of fishermen in the coastal area are mired in poverty.

Nambadan said all this came on top of the sufferings of the people, particularly the peasantry due to faulty import policies of the central government and the anti-farmer attitude of the state government. There is a severe agrarian crisis in the state with more than 1200 farmers having committed suicide under the burden of debt. He criticised the state government for not getting the central aid it deserves. In times of such crises, the state government was either closing down fair price shops or severely curtailing allocations to them. This has led to a situation where some ration shop owners unable to put up with the people’s insistence for supply of goods, took the extreme measure of suicide. On the other hand, the prices were increasing in the open market.

All the traditional industries like coir, cashew nut, handloom, handicrafts, clay, toddy tapping and fishing are decaying. The workers of plantation estates like rubber, coffee, tea and cardamom are all in poverty. Almost all industries have been closed. No new industry is coming up. Employees are being retrenched. There are absolutely no new employment opportunities existing in the state today.  Nambadan concluded with an appeal to the government to adopt a humanitarian attitude to the problems being faced by the people.

FOREIGN POLICY

Lok Sabha held a discussion on the foreign policy of the government on December 7. During the discussion, CPI(M) member, Rupchand Pal welcomed the initiative of the new government to pursue an independent foreign policy, keeping in mind the country’s past traditions. He also praised the government for taking steps to normalise relations with Pakistan at people-to-people level and also the initiatives taken by the prime minister during his dialogue with president Musharraf.

Referring to the government’s viewpoint that since elections are to be held in Iraq it cannot stay isolated from it, the CPI(M) member cautioned the government not to go beyond imparting training to electoral personnel. He said the present Iraqi government has absolutely no legitimacy as it was a puppet regime installed by the US government. As per reports, more than one lakh people – most of them civilians – have been killed since the naked aggression launched by the US-UK on Iraq and its continued occupation.

On Israel, the CPI(M) member criticised the government for wanting to continue a special relationship with it. Saying that the people of India are committed to the Palestinian cause, Pal demanded the government to undo the pro-Israel policy adopted by the previous BJP-led government.

Regarding SAARC region, Pal said the government must persuade Bangladesh government to act like Bhutan and flush out extremists of our North Eastern states taking shelter in that country.

INTERNAL SECURITY

Rajya Sabha held a discussion on the internal security situation in the country.  Participating in the debate, CPI(M) member A Vijayaraghavan welcomed the steps taken by the UPA government in regard to J&K, particularly the de-militarisation of certain zones. He wanted the government to support the peace initiative being taken by some political parties within the state. Saying that the state is still poverty-stricken and backward, with scarce employment opportunities, the CPI(M) MP asked the government to implement the assurances given to the Kashmiri people with some bold steps. He warned that otherwise the extremists would continue to exploit the situation.

With regard to North-East, Vijayaraghavan said the situation was different. The US is trying to destabilise the region by trying to interfere in the internal security of our country. He wanted to know the government’s stand in this regard.   Bangladesh is being used as a hub for the terrorist training etc., and these terrorists are killing innocent people in India and taking shelter in Bangladesh. The government of India should take up the matter seriously with the government of Bangladesh, he demanded.

Vijayaraghavan highlighted how hawala money amounting to thousands of crores of rupees is being used for anti-national activities. Some three years ago, there was an inflow of Rs 336 crore in Kerala and as a result anti-social activities increased in the state. The new economic policies were adversely affecting the lives of the people, particularly in villages. There are suicides by farmers, increase in unemployment due to plummeting down of government’s investment. Unless the government takes positive steps in economic, political and social fronts, the threat will continue to loom large as far as internal security and sovereignty of this country are concerned, he warned.

(December 12, 2004)