New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday commended Sharad Pawar's NCP and the Biju Janata Dal for never rushing to the well of the House to raise their issues and yet raising their points effectively.
With disruptions in Rajya Sabha in the past hindering passage of crucial legislations, the PM said the Upper House of Parliament was essential for checks and balance in democracy but a distinction needs to be drawn between checking and clogging.
He was speaking on the occasion of the landmark 250th session of Rajya Sabha.
"Today I want to appreciate two parties - NCP and BJD. These parties have wonderfully adhered to Parliamentary norms. They have never ventured into the well. Yet, they have made their points very effectively. Much can be learnt from these practices," he said.
With some within the ruling party questioning the effectiveness of Rajya Sabha as crucial legislative work got stalled because NDA lacked majority in the House, Modi recalled the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's words that the Upper House "may be the second house but no one should think of it as a secondary house."
"Whenever it has been about national good, the Rajya Sabha has risen to the occasion and made a strong contribution. It was believed that the Bill on Triple Talaq would not pass here but it did. Even GST became a reality after it was passed in the Rajya Sabha," he said.
Ready to discuss all issues: PM
The Prime Minister also added that the government is ready to discuss all issues in the Winter Session of Parliament. The winter session is from November 18 to December 13.
"We are open to discussions on all issues," he said addressing journalists at the Parliament complex ahead of the beginning of the session.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government will seek to push through the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill, a key part of the BJP's ideological agenda.
Whereas the opposition parties will be offensive and try to corner Union government over issues like economic slowdown and situation in Kashmir.
Modi in his customary remarks at a session eve all-party meeting held on Sunday asserted that the government is ready to discuss every issue and exhorted everyone to make the Winter session as productive as the last one, when Parliament gave its nod to the bifurcation of the then state of Jammu and Kashmir and nullifying Article 370, besides several other important bills.
Opposition leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress, raised the continuing "illegal" detention of mainstream leaders in Jammu and Kashmir like Farooq Abdullah, who is also a Lok Sabha member, and said they will take up issues like economic slowdown and unemployment in the session, which ends on December 13.
After the BJP-led NDA left the opposition stunned in the last session by winning over independent regional parties, especially in Rajya Sabha where treasury benches lacked majority, and wooing a number of rival leaders to get a host of bills passed, the Congress-led grouping has some reasons to feel emboldened over recent political developments,
Its better than expected show in the recent assembly polls, BJP's break in ties with Shiv Sena and reports of economic slowdown have put wind in the sails of opposition parties.
The 18 Sena MPs in Lok Sabha and three in Rajya Sabha have now been allotted seats in the opposition rows after the party severed ties with its longtime ally BJP and is in talks with the Congress-NCP alliance to form government in Maharashtra.
Despite the setback, numbers favour the treasury benches with the BJP appearing determined to get Parliament's approval on its legislative agenda that was stonewalled in the Modi government's first term when opposition outnumbered it in the Upper House.
The Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya case favouring a Ram temple at the disputed site has also come has a boost to the saffron ranks.
The government has listed Citizenship (amendment) Bill, a key BJP plank which is aimed at granting nationality to non-Muslim immigrants from neighbouring countries, for passage in this session.
The Modi government had introduced the bill in its previous tenure as well but could not push it through due to vehement protests by opposition parties, which criticised the bill as discriminatory on religious grounds.
The legislation seeks to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan if they have fled their respective country due to religious persecution.
There has been opposition to the bill in Assam and other Northeastern states, where most of these immigrants, mostly Hindus, have been living.
The government also plans to seek Parliament's nod to two crucial ordinances. An ordinance reducing corporate tax rate for new and domestic manufacturing companies to arrest slowdown in the economy and boost growth was issued in September to give effect to amendments in the Income Tax Act, 1961 and Finance Act, 2019.
The second ordinance, also issued in September, banned sale, manufacture and storage of e-cigarettes and similar products.
This is the second Parliament session of the BJP-led NDA government which returned to power with a greater mandate in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
(With inputs from PTI)
