BJP responsible for Rajya Sabha impasse: Congress

The Congress today held the BJP responsible for the impasse in the Rajya Sabha due to which the triple talaq bill could not be taken up, and accused the ruling party of trying to use Parliament as a "rubber stamp".
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said for the first time in the country's parliamentary history, people could see ministers stalling proceedings leading to an impasse for the last three days and the triple talaq bill could not be taken up.
"They (the ruling BJP) are squarely responsible for this impasse in the Rajya Sabha. For the first time, Union ministers and (ruling party) MPs were seen standing in the Rajya Sabha and stalling Parliament," he told reporters.

Azad said the government was responsible for the situation and the House not being able to take the triple talaq bill for sending it to a select committee for further scrutiny.
"The BJP does not want to pass the triple talaq bill. So, they are using it as a tool of propaganda against the Congress. The bill is not in favour of Muslim women as it renders them helpless after putting their husbands in jail, with nobody to fend for them," he said.
The Congress leader said the current bill does not have provisions for taking care of Muslim women, whose husbands would be sent to jail for instant triple talaq.

"This is the first time that the Winter Session and the Budget Session will be held in the same month. This is due to the government's delay in holding the Winter Session," he said.

Holding the central government responsible for the impasse in Parliament, Azad said the ruling party did not allow the bill to be sent to a parliamentary committee, where every party is consulted to scrutinise bills introduced by them.
"Unfortunately, the BJP doesn't believe in parliamentary democracy," he alleged.
Azad said for the first time, the opposition had an overwhelming majority and the ruling party had an absolute minority in the House, and it was the opposition which wanted voting on the bill while the government was opposing it.

He said the BJP was averse to sending the bill for scrutiny and this "brazenly displays the party's insecurity in democratic procedures".
In the matter of triple talaq bill, Azad said the government states that the onus of aggrieved wife's sustenance lies on the jailed husband. But BJP government neither explains how this is possible nor takes responsibility of the aggrieved wife's financial securities.
He also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of converting his cabinet into a campaign committee for Gujarat polls at the cost of delaying parliamentary proceedings.
Congress whip in the Lok Sabha Deepender Singh Hooda alleged that the government was not taking Parliament seriously and was using it only as a "rubber stamp".

"They do not believe in Parliament. Today we are seeing an 'ordinance raj', where the BJP government has laid out the highest number of ordinances. They want to treat Parliament as a rubber stamp" he told reporters.
Hooda said all the BJP has to do is hold a discussion on the bill and pass it.
"But the BJP does not believe in discussion at all!" he alleged.
During UPA II, Hooda said, 71 bills were sent to standing committees, where those were scrutinised by all political parties, but the BJP, in this session, has hardly sent a single bill to such a panel.

GST is a prime example of consequences of when a law is not scrutinised, as there have been 301 rules that have been changed, he said.
"We, in the Congress, will continue to strongly oppose the constant undermining of the Constitution and Parliament by the BJP," he said.