December 13, 2023
Dola Sen’s speech in the Rajya Sabha on The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2023
It’s okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Sir, but बुरा मत मािनएगा, लेिकन इसमेंबहुत िदक्कत होती हैिक कौन सा िबल आएगा, जेएंडके का िबल आएगा, िरपीिंलग िबल आएगा या सें�ल यूिनव�सटीज़ िबल का आएगा, यह हमें पता ही नहीं चला। हमेंयह अचानक ही पता चला। हमें�ेपरेशन का टाइम भी नहीं िमलता है। Mr. Chairman, Sir, on behalf of my Party, AITC, I am thankful to you, my Party and my leader, Ms. Mamata Banerjee as well for giving me the chance to speak. I will speak in Bangla, my mother language, if permitted. I do not know whether the interpreter is here or not. *”Sir, on behalf of our party Trinamool Congress, I welcome this. I got an opportunity to study in a good school and college since my childhood. This is my good fortune. From that point today what we can see in these days of ‘Achhe din and sabka saath sabka vikas ‘Government, the way in which history is being distorted, the way in which history is being pushed into oblivion, the way in which the stories of Celluar Jail etc. is being recreated, the way new false fake history is being rewritten, that is very unfortunate. I would like to cite an example. Recently, I went on a study visit of the Standing Committee for Labour to Andaman’s Cellular Jail. During British regime, 90% of the detainees were Bengalis. Now important figures like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Barin Ghosh, Biren Dutta Gupta have been forgotten, Ulaashkar Dutta was termed as a deranged man and Savarkar has been hailed as a ‘Veer’. There is only one light or lamp for all other freedom fighters and a separate light is there for Savarkar. But I am sorry to say that he was such an inmate who had submitted written petition for clemency time and again to be freed from jail. However, we know that our history of the freedom struggle is not that of clemency petitions, not a history of bowing down before the Britishers. Our history of freedom struggle is dotted by great leaders like Gandhiji, Netaji, Vallabh Bhai Patelji, Ambedkarji and our own Rabindranath, Nazrul, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan, Rashbehari Bose, Binoy, Badal, Dinesh, Khudiram, Bhagat Singh, Lal, Bal, Pal, Matangini Hazra, Pritilata Wadedar, Surya Sen and such other great souls who made our history stand tall, without bowing head. It’s a history of sacrificing lives voluntarily with a smile on the face. However, today our educationalists are forced to revisit history, rewrite history chapters and discard the role and key figures, just to please the current Central Government, I am sorry to say. I hope this Government doesn’t force them revisit and edit the history of Sammaka, Sarakka, the legendary mother daughter duo who passionately battled for the welfare of the community. Sir, there are a large number of vacancies in the Central universities. As on date, it is to the tune of 12,860, out of which vacancies are 62%, 63%, 61%, and 60% for SCs, STs, OBCs and economically backward communities respectively.. Apart from this, it is also unfortunate that the Central Government has given wrong information regarding the Telengana Tribal University a few days back, like they generally do in Parliament. This is highly unfortunate. Yesterday in response to the supplementary question posed by our member Sh. Saket Gokhale about the GST due, Hon. MoS, Finance had said that no GST is due to any state. And hon. Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharamanji had herself said that for West Bengal the GST compensation is due for the years 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 as the AG certificate has not been received. However, immediately, after that, I went out and checked the facts with the Finance Minister of West Bengal Chandrima Bhattacharya and the updated facts are here with me on my mobile, I can share the copy if you wish. GST certificates of 2019-20, 2020- 21, 2021-22 have regularly been submitted by our State Government. So the claim that since AG certificate is pending, therefore, the GST is due, is not correct. Similarly, it is highly unfortunate that once they had said in Parliament that the Government of Telengana has not sent any proposal for this Tribal University. However, the Tribal Welfare Minister of Telengana, Smt. Satyabati Rathore had allotted 170 acres of land in the year 2017 for this university. This is how this dignified House, this foundation of democracy, is being attacked time and again and we are extremely pained to witness that. We say that this Government has made a mockery of Parliament. It also appears that the Modi Government is willing to stop the welfare of the people. Please spare me for one minute more, Sir. For instance, I wish to point out how much is yet to be paid to Bengal and for which heads. For 100 days work Rs. 6561 crores, Rs. 9329 crores for Awas Yojana, Rs.344 crores for Swachh Bharat Mission, Rs. 174 crores for mid-day meal, Rs. 6334 crores for Bulbul cyclone affected people Rs.4022 crores for Yas cyclone, total Rs.100968 crores. This is neither an example of federalism, nor an example of respecting the Parliament. I would like to present some more statistics. Like in IIT, IIM, out 13,626 students SC, ST, OBC students who study in these prestigious institutes of IIT, IIM and Central Universities, about 35,000 students have committed suicides from 2019 to 2021. This is very unfortunate. And in case of Central Universities also, there is no instance of any success of Modi Government. I will say that in 2014, the expenditure of Union Government on the education sector for Central Universities was 0.63% of GDP. It became 0.34% of the GDP in 2021-22. In 2023-24, it has become 0.37% of the GDP. This figure is extremely less. Yes, I will authenticate.Do not worry, I will authenticate. I have the paper. …(Interruptions)… I shall conclude my speech by saying that Viswa Bharati University is a Central University which has been conferred with the title of World Heritage by UNESCO, that university which was set up by Rabindranath Tagore with passion and with all the resources he had at hand, the way in which the name of Tagore was removed from the plaque and the names of PM Modi and the Vice Chancellor were inscribed, is highly condemnable. Though it has been rectified by the Central Government later, the act was a grave mistake and unfortunate. It was done in an undemocratic manner and I would like to say that it should not have been done… Sir, I will authenticate. I stand correct with my point and. I will authenticate. I have informed prior to my time. Tomorrow.
