New Delhi: CPI(M) on Friday blamed the Congress for disruption of Parliament proceedings for several days, saying normal functioning was seen by the ruling party as a "hindrance" as it did not have majority in both Houses on its own.
"The truth is that the ruling Congress party and the UPA
government are unwilling to abide by the tenets of
parliamentary democracy," party General Secretary Prakash
Karat has said.
In an article in the forthcoming issue of party organ
`People`s Democracy`, he said normal democratic functioning of
Parliament is seen as a hindrance because the Congress does
not have a secured majority in both Houses on its own.
Referring to the recent Cabinet decision to allow FDI in
multi-brand retail which was later put on hold, he said the
government "refused" to accept the opposition demand for a
debate in Parliament under rules that entailed voting.
Though it was for the Speaker to admit an adjournment
motion, "it is well known that this depends on the attitude of
the government" which "was not willing to face any motion that
would censure it. That is why Parliament got stalled," he
said.
Karat said the lack of a stable majority in Lok Sabha was
the reason behind all the deadlock witnessed in Parliament
in the past two years.
The "refusal" to accept an adjournment motion on price
rise or a voting resolution on it led to disruption of the
House on two occasions, while similar "refusal" to set up a
joint parliamentary committee on 2G Spectrum scam disrupted
the entire Winter Session.
Despite its "precarious and uncertain majority" in Lok
Sabha, the UPA wanted to push through neo-liberal policies by
"undermining" parliamentary norms, he said, noting that the
number of average sittings declined from 100 in the 1980s to
below 50 in the past two years.
PTI
