July 16, 2019
Derek O’Brien’s interventions on the proceedings of Rajya Sabha
FULL TRANSCRIPT
First Intervention
Till when is the House going to run, Sir? Who has decided that the House will sit till this Bill is passed? Has the sense of the House been taken? No, it has not been taken. The sense of the House has not been taken. This is not a free market where the Minister will stand up and say and we will all sit here like lallu-pallu. The sense of the House has not been taken.
No, the sense of the House has not been taken. He has asked the Minister. Has any leader or member of the Opposition parties – Congress, SP, Trinamool – been asked? Today, you are passing the ninth Bill without scrutiny. Nine Bills have been passed and not a single Bill has gone for scrutiny. You cannot take the Opposition for granted like this.
You must take the sense of the House, Sir. The Deputy Chairman did NOT take the sense of the House. He asked the Minister and the Minister said yes; we are not here to be counted as numbers. We want to be a constructive Opposition. We want to cooperate with the government. But that does not mean you can take us for granted, Sir. This is too much. Nobody has been asked. Nobody.
Second Intervention
Sir, there is a certain convention. We can sit here for half-an-hour or one hour. Look at what was said at 6 o’clock. I completely agree with Jairam; we can sit here for half-an-hour. But the issue is… you look at the recording. The sense of the House is taken from the Chair. The sense of the House was not taken.
My simple request here, Sir, is that the BJP have a thumping majority there (Lok Sabha); what has happened here in the last 10 days, they have a majority here. But that does not mean that the Opposition will concede their Opposition rights. That is my limited point, Sir.
