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| Important debate, but Sonia and Rahul didn't utter a word | | FDI In Multi-Brand Retail Trade | |
NEHA
JAMMU, Dec 6: The anxious nation witnessed live two-day-long parliamentary debate on the crucial issue of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail trade. The debate concluded yesterday at about 7 p.m. The motion moved by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj seeking withdrawal of the decision on the FDI was defeated by 38 votes. The Congress-dominated UPA Government got 253 votes and the opposition 218. In other words, the government could not get 272 votes in the 542-member Lok Sabha, thus once again establishing that the Congress is running a minority government. The entire opposition had opposed the decision as anti-national, anti-poor people, anti-farmer, anti-petty shopkeepers and pro-western world and China and had accused the government of bartering paramount financial interests of the country. It also accused the government of creating a situation that had enabled the British East India Company to fleece India and drain its wealth, capture the Indian market, destroy it industries and enrich the pauper Great Britain.
Had the "unscrupulous and highly opportunist" Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, which on day one of the debate on an issue of great import had opposed the government decision tooth and nail and have been extending outside support to the government for more than eight years now not indulged in political debauchery by walking out just before voting on the motion took place, the UPA government would suffered a humiliating defeat and forfeited moral right to rule the country. Both the parties displayed political dishonesty of sorts and saved the government from its imminent defeat on the floor of the House.
It is very important to note that representatives of only four political parties, including the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Rashtriya Lok Dal, supported the otherwise roundly condemned decision. Those who defended the government, among others, included two Congress Cabinet Ministers (Kapil Sibal and Anand Sharma) and Lalu Prasad Yadav. All others who spoke during the debate spoke against the official decision. Leaders of as many as 14 political parties spoke against the decision and these parties are represented in the Lok Sabha by 282 members. The parties which opposed the motion are represented by only 224 members in the Lok Sabha, 48 less than 272.
While the attack of the opposition as well as the supporting parties on the government was scathing, convincing and to the point, those who presented the official viewpoint were neither here nor there. Indeed, they cut a sorry figure during the debate. They did not make even a single valid point in support of the official policy. They only indulged in rhetoric.
The most significant aspect of the whole debate, which was watched live by the entire nation, was that neither the AICC president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi nor her son, the AICC general secretary and the Congress' prime ministerial candidate for the next general elections Rahul Gandhi utter a single word. They did not speak because they did know what to speak and how to take on the well-prepared opposition. The only role that Sonia Gandhi played during the two-day-long debate was some thumping of desks. She got provoked on several occasions, but did not intervene. She only looked towards her sycophants so that they could counter the opposition onslaught. As for Rahul Gandhi, less said the better. Suffice it to say that his presence went almost unnoticed. And, it was not for the first time that they did not speak. The fact is that they have hardly spoken in the Lok Sabha. That they did not speak during such a crucial debate constitutes a very poor reflection not only on their so-called leadership but also on the Congress party itself. The nation must have noticed all this. |
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