NEW DELHI, 7 September 2007 — Despite the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government having rejected the opposition’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other parties stalled proceedings of the Parliament yesterday for the second day by continuing to hold fast to their demands.
Calling the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Third Front demands for a JPC as “funny”, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee asserted that the UPA, being in power because of the left’s support, was not bound by the NDA’s stand. “The government’s continuance is dependent on their (left) support and not on the support of NDA. My job is to carry conviction with my supporters and not with opponents,” Mukherjee said.
On BJP leader L.K. Advani’s comment that UPA-left committee (formed to study the deal) was aimed at saving the government, Mukherjee said: “Of course, it is my job to save the government. It is my additional responsibility to carry my supporters so that the government continues.”
Rejecting the opposition’s demand for a JPC, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi clarified that the nuclear deal was outside the purview of Parliament.
Though the nuke deal was listed for discussion in the Upper House (Rajya Sabha) yesterday, opposition members stalled the proceedings by demanding that it should be taken up through a substantive motion entailing voting. After the House witnessed two adjournments, the chair announced that the issue would be taken up in the afternoon.
Deputy Chairman K. Rehman Khan asked the members, who were shouting slogans in the well, to express their views on the nuclear deal in a debate. However, as the din continued, the house was adjourned for the day.
Earlier, the BJP members held a brief meeting with Advani, who told party members that they should leave for their constituencies, immediately after the monsoon session, and highlight to the people the “failures” of the Congress-led government.
Later, at a meeting in Advani’s chamber, NDA leaders decided not to allow any debate until their demands for voting, disbanding of the UPA-Left committee and the setting up of JPC were met.
Criticizing the NDA’s demand for JPC as “unheard of and unprecedented,” Congress spokesman Abishek Manu Singhvi said: “Any demand should have basis in law, convention and established procedure. Never in the history of the country had an international treaty been subjected to scrutiny by a parliamentary committee.”
Singhvi also accused the opposition of “finding excuses to disrupt the proceedings of the Parliament”, “create confusion on a matter of national importance” and avoid participation in debate on Action Taken Report (ATR) on Sachar Committee’s recommendations on backwardness of Muslims.
Legislators belonging to left bloc, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Telegu Desam Party (TDP) participated in a 15-minute sit-in demonstration outside the main entrance of the Parliament House in the morning. About 50 legislators, including Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat of Communist Party of India-Marxist, Yerrain Naidu (TDP) and Shahid Siddiqui raised slogans such as: “UPA government should come to its senses” and “Stop ties with imperialist forces.”
They also held banners protesting the joint naval exercises taking place in the Bay of Bengal, in which India, US, Japan, Australia and Singapore are taking part. The banners read: “US Navy, hands off Bay of Bengal” and “Stop Naval Exercises.”
