Saugata Roy speaks on the Delhi genocide

Namaskar Sir, thank you. 

I rise to speak on the Delhi genocide. I am not speaking in a happy frame of mind because the Delhi genocide happened 72 years after Gandhi ji was murdered in the same city by a Hindu fanatic. Gandhi ji has been murdered again in Delhi by you know who, Sir. 

Sir, I was listening to one of the Honourable Members. Her speech, if made outside, could be termed as a hate speech. I have seldom heard such a biased, communal speech. I do not know whether this should go up in the House records. The Member was forthright in her defence of a man who went to Maujpur with 300 people and started the riots. She spent five minutes defending the most hated man so may I quote Shakespeare and call her ‘the devil’s advocate’. She is the best devil’s advocate possible. She has also been an advocate for Delhi Police, which has shown total inaction and ineptitude in this whole riot in Delhi. Unfortunately, there are not many takers for Meenakshi ji’s speech.  

Sir, this is what our leader Mamata Banerjee has said, that the Delhi riots were “a planned genocide”. So I must explain why she described it as such. She called it “a planned genocide” because there was gradual build-up to the hatred that led to the riots. First, there was the action taken in JNU against the students. Then, the police went to the Jamia Millia Islamia University and beat up students inside the library. Then, one after another, in the run-up to the Delhi election, one person said, “Goli maro”, and used some other words. Then another said, regarding the Shaheen Bagh protesters, that people will go and do all sorts of things to them. Then the Honourable Home Minister said, “Aap itna zor button dabao ki Shaheen Bagh mein current lage”. Lekin unka baat koi nahi suna, party haar gaya, woh toh dusri baat hain. But he did say, “Itna zor button dabao ki Shaheen Bagh mein current lage”. The hate was being built up, and then this man Kapil Mishra openly said that if the road was not cleared, he shall go with 300 people to clear it up. 

Then what happened, Sir? I’m not counting Hindus and Muslims, because I quote John Donne, who said: “any man’s death diminishes me,/ because I am involved in mankind./ And therefore never send to know for whom/ the bell tolls; it tolls for thee”. This was quoted by Ernest Hemingway in his famous novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls. Sir, I am not counting though I know that out of the 53 people killed, there were two policemen, and 11 belonged to the majority community and 40 to the minority community. I am not naming any community but it’s obvious that the minority community suffered more. And what’s more, thousands of people have fled from the affected areas and gone to their villages in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, or are living with relatives elsewhere in Delhi.

In this city of Delhi, areas like Maujpur, Chand Bagh and Jamuna Vihar were wholly affected. The other areas wholly affected, if I may mention, were Jaffrabad, Seelampur, Babarpur, Gokulpuri, Khajuri Khas, Karawal Nagar, Bhajanpura, Maujpur and Shivpuri. For three days, there was a naked dance of communalism in the streets of Delhi. How did it start? On the 23rd, Kapil Mishra came with a pro-CAA procession and there was a meeting in Jaffrabad. First, a clash took place between pro-CAA and anti-CAA protestors. Women have been sitting at Shaheen Bagh since December 14 but there was no violence. However, BJP leaders kept instigating them, saying “Yeh Shaheen Bagh, yeh deshdrohi hai, isko goli maro, ura do”, aur yeh ghrina charo taraf failne laga. Yahan Meenakshi Lekhi ka jo speech tha, waisa hi sab speech log bahar mein de rahe the

On the 23rd and 24th, the actual rioting started. I was looking for our Honourable Home Minister, and I saw him sitting in a front row sitting in the front row at Motera Stadium welcoming Mr Trump. When he should have been in the police control room he was welcoming Mr trump at Motera. On the 24th, which was a Monday, Mr Trump came to Ahmedabad and then he undertook a romantic visit to Agra, and our Home Minister attended Motera and came back to Delhi, but there was no order for the police. On that day, five people were killed including one head constable Ratan Lal. The violence was escalating, but still there was no clear instruction from the Honourable Home Minister. He was busy at Trump’s meeting. Then on the 25th things went out of control. Armed mobs fought with each other on the streets of Delhi. As the Honourable Member referred to earlier said, Molotov cocktails, stones, bombs and other things were thrown, and ultimately the death toll has gone up to 53. The Honourable Home Minister then had a meeting with the Chief MInister of Delhi and others on the 25th – mind you, not on the 24th when the riots started. He had the meeting on the 25th. And only on the evening of the 25th were the first orders given for imposition of Section 144 and for shoot-at-sight. Still, the violence went on throughout the night of 25th. Only on the 26th did peace return. The police had taken some action. The useless commissioner of Delhi was removed and a new man was brought in. 

Now it has been questioned as to why did the NSA visit these affected areas on the 26th? What was the Home Minister doing? The NSA is supposed to keep track of the threats to the country. But he is going to Kashmir, he is going here and there. Is it his business to control the internal law and order situation? Why was the Home Minister absent from action? There was no explanation for the same. 

When Ajit Doval went, he said, “Jo ho gaya so ho gaya, now there will be peace”. Uske baad se mera ek kavita yaad aya — “Panchi jo udti hai chaman badal giya/.Haste hai sitare gagan badal giya”. Aj shanti, khamoshi bata rahi hai laash wohi hai sirf kafan badal gaya. Kafan badal gaya kyun ki Ahmedabad wapas aya. Sir, Naroda Patia wapas aya; we haven’t forgotten. But the now Honourable Prime Minister said in 2002, “To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”, quoting Isaac Newton. 

At this stage, I feel bad standing face-to-face with the Honourable Home Minister. You are still young, you have a good future if you accept responsibility for your failure to control Delhi riots, if you acknowledge your responsibility for failing to bring peace within three days. You were busy with Trump, so you could not do it. Acknowledge the responsibility in the name of god and go, don’t sit in the Home Minister’s position. If you go now, maybe you  will recover, otherwise you will have to lead the rest of your life with the stamp on your forehead that this is the man who could not prevent the riots in Delhi, just 10 km from the Home Ministry’s headquarters. If you could not control Delhi, how would you control this huge country? 

Sir, I demand a judicial enquiry into the riots by a sitting Supreme Court judge, not a retired judge. I demand total rehabilitation for all those affected by the riots, and lastly, with all politeness at my disposal, I ask the Honourable Home MInister, in the name of god, to go. 

 

Saugata Roy makes an intervention on the rule to not reflect on a person in high authority not present in the House  

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A Member, while speaking, shall not reflect on a person in high authority. The Honourable Member is not reflecting on any conduct, he is just stating some names. Why should you object to that? One must understand the word, ‘reflect’; here ‘reflect’ means ‘to pass comment’ or ‘to think’. Just because he mentioned that Justice Muralidhar ka transfer nahin hona chahiye tha … <Chair intervenes> Sir, ‘reflect’ yahan bahut zaroori shabd hain … <Chair intervenes>

 

Derek O’Brien makes a Point of Order on giving enough time to all before introducing a topic for discussion

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First part

It’s a Point of Order on Rule 29, that is, List of Business. You are now sharing with us your sentiments which is fine, that the time of the Ordinance is running out. It is like saying, I came late for boarding a flight, so I can jump the queue. Listen to this, Sir, please. If this was so important why was this not listed in the List of Business in the morning. Where was it? You want the opposition to cooperate, but you don’t do your homework. Why could not this have been listed in the morning? It was listed at ten minutes past two as Supplementary Business. My question to you Sir, please let the Government answer this question in the House. It’s a good Ordinance but why didn’t they follow the basic rules of parliamentary democracy? 

 

Second part

Sir, let us look for reconciliation. We are not asking for a big compromise. For five days, we have been asking for a discussion on how to heal Delhi but we are not getting it. I’m not getting into egos here.

The Leader of the Opposition has made a genuine statement on behalf of all of us in the opposition. What on earth will fall down if you bring the issue up tomorrow? We are all requesting this. 

Sir, there has to be some give and take, otherwise, it’ll be like, make a last-minute telephone call and bring up things. We want this House to run, we want this Ordinance not to lapse and we are cooperating. Why is the Government showing this big arrogance about trying to show us their will? We don’t want the House to run this way. 

 

Saugata Ray speaks on the issue of matters under Rule 377

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Sir, may I join the rest of my colleagues in thanking you for coming back to your chair of high honour. The House was feeling like an orphan without your presence. There was nobody to protect our rights and interests. 

Sir, we had a very fruitful meeting in your chamber and fortunately we came to the conclusion that all is well that ends well. We discussed the incidents in the House over the last week and we also came to the conclusion that what had happened was not desirable. It is the duty of all of us to uphold the dignity and majesty of the House, which is made up of the representatives of the people of this country. I am sure that after today the atmosphere will remain good and that we shall all strive to keep harmony in the House, refrain from any action that infringes on the dignity of the House and the unity of the Members. 

We, as opposition, would raise our small issues and demands, like we have been demanding a discussion on the Delhi riots, and which will happen today. Our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has instructed us to not go into the well. Even if we are leaving the seats sometimes, it is actually in violation of what she said. So we commit to you that we shall cooperate with you in keeping the dignity of the House. 

In this context I refer to my friends from the Congress benches who have been suspended under a motion moved by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister. I do not defend whatever they said or whatever they did, but they are also Members of this House, elected by the people. Their absence from the House would deprive that large section of people from being represented in the House. So at the end of it all, with you back in the Chair, with your magnanimity, your generosity, please call back our young friends back to this House. Let this House be whole again, with you in the Chair.

Thank you, Sir.    

 

Derek O’Brien speaks on ways to combat coronavirus 

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Sir, the last time the Health Minister made a statement on this subject, we all sat here and made suggestions from the opposition and the House ran. Today on this serious subject, the Videsh Mantri made a statement and we sat here as the opposition, heard him, and now we are giving suggestions. So I hope the Foreign Minister is also getting a message as to who his friends are. 

There are two suggestions. It would be fair if you could pass these on to your Cabinet Health colleague because he is not here.

The first one is, to not create panic in any communication which we do. The second one is, to look at what some of the State Governments have done in the last seven to eight days, while they have been disrupting Parliament. 

I will state two suggestions, based on what a State Government, like mine in Bengal, implemented and which have worked very well. I want to share those suggestions.

One is, set up isolation wards in all Government hospitals. It has been done as a precautionary measure in Bengal and has worked very very well. Now the private hospitals too have also adopted that. The second one is, do a mass campaign on how to properly wash your hands and for how long. The Chief Minister of Bengal herself shot a video, sitting in her office and that has gone viral, so more and more people are getting to know about what to do and what not to do.

Thank you, Sir. 

 

Saugata Roy asks supplementary questions on granting permanent commission to women

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First Supplementary 

Sir, the Minister’s reply is very sketchy. Even after the Supreme Court judgement, the Minister has not given a detailed reply. I would like to know from the Honourable Minister whether he agrees with the view of his party’s MP, that the Army’s argument that there will be inefficiency at command levels, is the highest form of hypocrisy. Also, whether the battle was against the misogynistic mindset of the bureaucracy and it has been tackled well.

I am asking the Honourable Minister whether he is taking any steps regarding the attitude of the military and the misogynistic attitude of the bureaucracy, as alleged by a ruling party MP. 

Second Supplementary

Sir, the House is not in order over the suspension of seven members of the Congress. I hope that you will sort out the problem and let me ask a question. 

Sir question yeh hain, ki abhi bhi mahilaon ko permanent commission bahut kam hain. Army me kebal 65 hain, Navy mein 9 hain, Air Force mein 382 hain. Toh kitne din mein yeh sankhya badaya jaiga? Tab tak hamare desh gender parity mein doosre deshon se bahut peeche rahega. Toh kab hum gender parity dur karenge, yeh agar Mantri Ji bole, aur yeh suspension utha le to accha rahega.    

 

Saugata Roy’s intervention during a discussion on the coronavirus epidemic

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Sir, it is good that the House, after a four-day hiatus, has gathered in peace to discuss the serious matter affecting the health of the people. COVID-19 or the coronavirus disease is a new disease. We had earlier seen the Ebola virus problem. This coronavirus originated from Wuhan in China and has mainly spread to Iran, Italy and South Korea.

 Sir, viruses are something which are very small and cannot be seen with naked eyes. Viruses cannot be seen even under a microscope, they can only be seen under an electron microscope. There is no proper cure for any viral disease, You can do only symptomatic treatment and can only try to contain the disease. In this case, you may avoid physical contact, not shake hands, keep a 3 feet distance, and cover your eyes, mouth and nostrils. These are the things that have been communicated to the people.

I suggest to the Minister that on every television channel and radio, there should be 15 seconds clips advising the people not to panic. There is a great panic throughout the country. So far only 29 people out of the 130 crore in our country have been diagnosed as positive. So, compared to other countries, the disease is still under control.

The Government of India has taken certain steps especially with regard to airports and the land ports but as someone mentioned, ours is a long and porous border and China, rather Wuhan, is close to us. Coronavirus se fever hota hai, cough hota hai, aur cough se droplets nikalta hai, so we have to advice people not to shake hands, keep a 3 feet distance and not to step on the droplets.

Sukhendu Sekhar Ray’s intervention during a discussion on Coronavirus epidemic

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Sir after China the most severely affected country (by Coronavirus) is Iran; from there this disease has spread all over the middle-east Asia. Whether the government will consider banning the entry of passengers  who have recently visited Iran and other countries in the middle-east? This is my first suggestion.

Secondly, as already mentioned by some members, hand sanitisers and masks are being sold at exorbitant prices. So, my suggestion would be that the government should consider and ensure distribution of hand sanitisers and masks through PDS all over the country, at affordable price.

Lastly, in social media, the AYUSH Ministry has reportedly suggested using homeopathic medicine. Whether that is real or not nobody knows. So, the AYUSH department should clarify this point also.

Thank you, Sir. 

Derek O’Brien’s intervention during a discussion on Coronavirus epidemic

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Sir, we thank the Minister for his nine-page statement. As far as the Government of West Bengal goes, I can speak on behalf of them, we assure the Centre of all cooperation to protect the mothers and the children of our country, the brothers of our country and the sisters of our country. We must not get into a situation of panic, for example, and even think about using the public distribution system to try and get stuff out.

At this stage Sir, without at all wishing to spoil the mood of this House but, I have to on the table of the House say, since this is the first time I have got the chance to speak in four days – also think about the mothers, the children, the brothers and sisters of our country who died without having the Coronavirus last month. We must keep this in mind. 

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