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Disclosures made by Wikileaks and published by The Hindu continued to rock both Houses of Parliament as a united opposition on Wednesday slammed the UPA government over the "cash for votes" scam. The Opposition trained its guns on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as he was heading the UPA I government in 2008 and he happened to be the "biggest beneficiary" of the trust vote.
Raising a discussion at the Lok Sabha on the March 18 statement of the Prime Minister regarding the newspaper [The Hindu] report on payment of 'cash for votes' under Rule 193 which does not entail voting, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj launched a sharp attack on Dr. Singh, saying, as head of the government, he could not shirk his responsibility. The Prime Minister was present in the House, listening intently to the discussion during the morning session.
Objecting to Dr. Singh’s description of Wikileaks cables as "unverified, speculative and unverifiable", she said that disclosures could not be dismissed in such a manner.
"It is the habit of the Prime Minister to blame others. If it is price rise, then Sharad Pawar [Agriculture Minister] is responsible, if it is 2G, then it is A. Raja [former Telecom Minister] and if it is Commonwealth Games scam then [Suresh] Kalmadi is to be blamed," she said.
No more excuses
Ms. Swaraj said that people were fed up of excuses such as "I don't know anything, I am not aware of anything, there are coalition compulsions and I am not that much guilty as I am made out to be." She said that people were asking, "If you do not know anything, then why are you the Prime Minister?"
Amid frequent interruptions by the Congress members, she said after the Parliament Inquiry Committee had recommended a further probe into the scam, the Delhi Police Crime Branch had registered a case in January 2009 and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory had verified the authenticity of the tapes of the sting operation.
Pointing out that the Prime Minister had not mentioned this in his statement, she said: "Nobody tells you anything? This is why I have given notice for Breach of Privilege Motion."
She also objected to the reference to the electoral victory of the Congress in 2009 in the Prime Minister’s statement, saying it was a dangerous argument as a poll victory could not wash the stains like the 1984 anti-Sikh riots on Congress.
Ms. Swaraj said that India's democracy had been "shamed" by the 'cash-for-votes' scam and added that an electoral victory or loss would not wash it off.
PM accused of "parliamentary piracy"
Earlier, initiating the discussion, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta accused the Prime Minister of resorting to "parliamentary piracy" to win the vote of confidence in 2008 and demanded that he come clean.
He said the report of a Parliamentary panel on the scam had recommended "investigation by an appropriate agency" into the alleged attempts to purchase votes to win the trust vote.
"It's a case of parliamentary piracy because some members were hijacked. The suspicion is that organised group of political gangsters were at work," he said even as his remarks evoked angry protests from the ruling benches.
As Mr. Dasgupta demanded a probe in to large-scale absenteeism in the opposition benches during the trust vote, ruling members, including Congress members Raj Babbar, Sanjay Nirupam, Annu Tandon and Mahabal Mishra were on their feet protesting the reference.
The CPI leader said, "Electoral verdict cannot condone criminality if it has been perpetrated." However, he said, the argument taken up by the Prime Minister gave credence to the "might is right" theory which was a dangerous proposition in a functional democracy.
"I concede that the Prime Minister was precise in his statement and the statement was cogent. He was very prompt in throwing the ball in the court of the Opposition, his tone was very firm and he was firm in rejecting the complaints on cash-for-votes during the last no confidence motion," Mr. Dasgupta said, adding that "linguistic fervour" was used to conceal the facts.
Defending the government, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the Prime Minister's statement was based on facts and accused the Opposition of creating an "environment of crisis" on the basis of the Wikileaks documents which should not be given any importance.
Contending that the BJP was misinterpreting the facts, he asked whether the main Opposition party had verified the contents of the Wikileaks documents or whether it could do so.
"You consider it the truth? ... Whenever you have attacked the Prime Minister, he has emerged stronger because he has that kind of personality," he said.
Defending the Prime Minister's reference to the victory in 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Mr. Bansal said there was nothing wrong in mentioning the electoral win. He said that the BJP was raising the issue as it was not able to digest the UPA's electoral victory in 2004 and again in 2009.
In an oblique reference to the 'turf war' in the BJP, Mr. Bansal said the "problem is within" and appealed to it to rely on facts and not give credence to "wild allegations."
He referred to the Parliament's Inquiry Committee which had recommended a probe against Sudheendra Kulkarni, the former close aide of BJP leader L.K. Advani in the 'cash-for-vote' scam. BJP members, including Yashwant Sinha, asked why the case was not pursued for the last three years
Raising a discussion at the Lok Sabha on the March 18 statement of the Prime Minister regarding the newspaper [The Hindu] report on payment of 'cash for votes' under Rule 193 which does not entail voting, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj launched a sharp attack on Dr. Singh, saying, as head of the government, he could not shirk his responsibility. The Prime Minister was present in the House, listening intently to the discussion during the morning session.
Objecting to Dr. Singh’s description of Wikileaks cables as "unverified, speculative and unverifiable", she said that disclosures could not be dismissed in such a manner.
"It is the habit of the Prime Minister to blame others. If it is price rise, then Sharad Pawar [Agriculture Minister] is responsible, if it is 2G, then it is A. Raja [former Telecom Minister] and if it is Commonwealth Games scam then [Suresh] Kalmadi is to be blamed," she said.
No more excuses
Ms. Swaraj said that people were fed up of excuses such as "I don't know anything, I am not aware of anything, there are coalition compulsions and I am not that much guilty as I am made out to be." She said that people were asking, "If you do not know anything, then why are you the Prime Minister?"
Amid frequent interruptions by the Congress members, she said after the Parliament Inquiry Committee had recommended a further probe into the scam, the Delhi Police Crime Branch had registered a case in January 2009 and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory had verified the authenticity of the tapes of the sting operation.
Pointing out that the Prime Minister had not mentioned this in his statement, she said: "Nobody tells you anything? This is why I have given notice for Breach of Privilege Motion."
She also objected to the reference to the electoral victory of the Congress in 2009 in the Prime Minister’s statement, saying it was a dangerous argument as a poll victory could not wash the stains like the 1984 anti-Sikh riots on Congress.
Ms. Swaraj said that India's democracy had been "shamed" by the 'cash-for-votes' scam and added that an electoral victory or loss would not wash it off.
PM accused of "parliamentary piracy"
Earlier, initiating the discussion, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta accused the Prime Minister of resorting to "parliamentary piracy" to win the vote of confidence in 2008 and demanded that he come clean.
He said the report of a Parliamentary panel on the scam had recommended "investigation by an appropriate agency" into the alleged attempts to purchase votes to win the trust vote.
"It's a case of parliamentary piracy because some members were hijacked. The suspicion is that organised group of political gangsters were at work," he said even as his remarks evoked angry protests from the ruling benches.
As Mr. Dasgupta demanded a probe in to large-scale absenteeism in the opposition benches during the trust vote, ruling members, including Congress members Raj Babbar, Sanjay Nirupam, Annu Tandon and Mahabal Mishra were on their feet protesting the reference.
The CPI leader said, "Electoral verdict cannot condone criminality if it has been perpetrated." However, he said, the argument taken up by the Prime Minister gave credence to the "might is right" theory which was a dangerous proposition in a functional democracy.
"I concede that the Prime Minister was precise in his statement and the statement was cogent. He was very prompt in throwing the ball in the court of the Opposition, his tone was very firm and he was firm in rejecting the complaints on cash-for-votes during the last no confidence motion," Mr. Dasgupta said, adding that "linguistic fervour" was used to conceal the facts.
Defending the government, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said the Prime Minister's statement was based on facts and accused the Opposition of creating an "environment of crisis" on the basis of the Wikileaks documents which should not be given any importance.
Contending that the BJP was misinterpreting the facts, he asked whether the main Opposition party had verified the contents of the Wikileaks documents or whether it could do so.
"You consider it the truth? ... Whenever you have attacked the Prime Minister, he has emerged stronger because he has that kind of personality," he said.
Defending the Prime Minister's reference to the victory in 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Mr. Bansal said there was nothing wrong in mentioning the electoral win. He said that the BJP was raising the issue as it was not able to digest the UPA's electoral victory in 2004 and again in 2009.
In an oblique reference to the 'turf war' in the BJP, Mr. Bansal said the "problem is within" and appealed to it to rely on facts and not give credence to "wild allegations."
He referred to the Parliament's Inquiry Committee which had recommended a probe against Sudheendra Kulkarni, the former close aide of BJP leader L.K. Advani in the 'cash-for-vote' scam. BJP members, including Yashwant Sinha, asked why the case was not pursued for the last three years