August 7, 2024
Jawhar Sircar’s speech during the discussion on The Appropriation (No. 2) Bill, 2024
Sir, thank you for the opportunity. I have already discussed the economic blockade of Bengal in the last occasion. I will just repeat what I mean by economic blockade. We have been blocked out of Rs.34,000 crores by the Central Government for reasons that we are not still sure. It appears to be a vindictive act. PM Awas Yojana, Rs.8,000 crore; MGNREGA, Rs.7,000 crore; Food subsidy, Rs.9,000 crore; Samagra Shikhsa, Rs. 9,000 crore and Fifteenth Finance Commission dues, which only have to flow to us, these also have been withheld. So, it comes to Rs.34,000 crores. But I will take this occasion to speak to my colleagues on both sides of the House on a very general issue and this general issue relates to federalism and anti-federalism. To understand the federal spirit, one has to understand what is anti-federal, what goes against the spirit of the Union of India? I have listed out ten, other than the economic blockade. Number one is, cesses and duties and additional duties. These are collected by the Central Government and not shared. Every year, this pool is becoming bigger and bigger. It does not matter whether you are here today or whether you are here tomorrow. It is a question of principle. Why should the Government of India put these cesses and additional duties on to the non divisible pool? That is the first point. Is that being followed? Number two, Central expenditure is calibrated. A State like ours or Kerala cannot speak of any Central expenditure other than railways and national highways. Central expenditure; second way of treating federalism. Third is CPSU investment, the investments in Central Public Sector Units. Whatever we had have been shut down. No new Central Public Sector investment until we vote with you! Number four is bank credit. The subtlety with which credit is controlled by the officials of the bank, on signals, on hints — I am not saying they are ordered by the Finance Ministry — they just take hints This is a terrible thing that is happening which will destroy the spinal cord of federalism. Today, if you do not stop it, maybe, you will be on the receiving end tomorrow. The fifth one is FDI approval. For FDI approval, we need the Government of India’s support, we need the Government of India’s proactive energies and we have not received any FDI approval in years because we are not with you. Our political opposition is being translated into an economic punishment. The sixth one is PLI. I have spoken about it. The PLI scheme (Production Linked Incentive), I have called it something that needs to come out in the public domain. I can challenge the Finance Ministry here and maybe, they will reply to it and correct me. Seventy per cent of the PLI has gone to one State, only one State that gets all the investment, all the Central investment, all the bank credit. Seventy per cent has gone to the State of Gujarat. Please prove me wrong. Please place all this data in the public domain. Let us understand what this PLI incentive is and we will understand. We need to put it up in the public domain. Then comes private investment, discouragement of private investment. Then comes State loans. You are choking State loans. Last and second last point. The IAS and IPS are being misused. And last is, put your name into every scheme, ‘PM SHRI’. Why not.. You are forcing us to put saffron colour. You are forcing us to call them mandirs. These are the ten points on which you are anti-federal.
