RS sees spat between Jaitley, O'Brien

Rajya Sabha today saw a spat between Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and TMC leader Derek O'Brien during the debate on Constitution.
O'Brien, while speaking on the issue, took objection to Jaitley's reported remarks questioning whether an un-elected House (Rajya Sabha) should override the decision of the elected House (Lok Sabha).
The Leader of the House makes statements outside the House "demeaning" the Rajya Sabha, he said.
"Please do not indulge in cowboy Constitutionalism. This is cowboy Constitutionalism at the worst," he said, adding Jaitley should not make such remarks only because the numbers in the Rajya Sabha do not favour the BJP.

Countering it, Jaitley said, "In bicameral House-based democracies, it is a debate all over the world. Britain started this debate in 1885, which continued till 1946. For the last two decades, Italy had this debate which has culminated in a decision last month.
"And, therefore, in a bi-cameral system, the relationship between two Houses is a constitutional issue, not a cowboy issue."

Jaitley also told O'Brien in a lighter vein it was not a quiz show. O'Brien is a know quiz show master.
At this, O'Brien said he was happy that his comments had provoked a reaction from the Finance Minister.

The TMC leader also got into a spat with Left leaders.
Latching to CPI-M member Sitaram Yechury's remarks that the BJP, which did not play any role in the freedom struggle, was "worming" its way into the history of the independence movement, O'Brien said "at least the Communists do not have the right to question it".
Attacking the BJP over the issue of "Hindu Rashtra", K C
Tyagi (JD-U) cited the low representation of Muslims in political and consitutional posts.
He castigated some BJP leaders for their 'Pakistan' remarks, reminding that Indian Muslims did not go to Pakistan during partition despite having the option.

"We support you on GST, Insurance Bill (on raising FDI cap to from 26 49 percent). We totally support you on Coal and Mines (Bills). But you should also ask your 5-6 ministers to cooperate with the Constitution," the JD(U) leader said.
"One says former President Abdul Kalam was Muslim yet he was a nationalist. Is being a Muslim some crime? Another one says those who vote for us are Ramzaade (progenies of Ram) while all others are Haramzaade (bastards)," Tyagi said, adding "Will you take the revenge of what happened with Hindus in Pakistan with Muslims in India?"
He said if Ambedkar had to lose elections 100 times, he would have never told his opponents that they will be sent to Pakistan. "Your minister speaks as if you are a travel agent of Pakistan. Ambedkar would have never supported that some particular religious book is imposed on all, the way an attempt is being made now to make India a theocratic state," the JD(U) leader alleged.

Giving figures, Tyagi said no Muslim is Speaker in any state Assembly in the country while there are "one and half" Ministers (Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptuallah and his Deputy Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi) in the Union Cabinet.
"There is only half Chief Minister -- half is Mufti Mohammed Saeed) and half Nirmal Singh. No Muslim became Chief of the Naval Staff in the country and among the 43 Secretaries in the country only two are Muslims," he said.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Independent) said it was important to maintain the core values of the Constitution.
Noting that the Constitution envisaged a nation that lived by the rule of law, with equal rights and justice for all with no discrimination, freedom of expression and property rights, he said, "But, let us frankly admit that Governments and Parliament have let down the Constitution and the country repeatedly."

Citing instances, he said that the rule of law, for is inconsistently applied and seems to not apply to those who are powerful or rich or politically connected. This repeated violation of rule of law destroys the core values of our Constitutional democracy and often directly threatens the Constitutional Guarantee to Life under Article 21.