BRIEF TALKING POINTS OF THE SPEECH OF
SHRI ARUN JAITLEY M.P. RAJYA SABHA ( BJP)
ON THE MOTION OF THANKS TO THE PRESIDENT

I wish no disrespect to the President while I disagree with the draftsmen of the President’s speech who have chosen to give themselves a lavish praise for otherwise a directionless, rudderless and a non performing government.

This Government will shortly enter the fifth year of its governance. Its past four years have been marked by directionless, rudderless, non-performing governance whose only achievement has been to stay in power despite no achievements. The ruling combination’s popularity is at the lowest depth. In the past 2 years it lost election in Bihar, Punjab, Uttarakhand, U.P. Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. It lost even in Jharkhand and Goa and through a process of political manipulations managed to come to power. When the Congress did led UPA last scored a decisive victory in the election? And yet the arrogance of power is such that the UPA believes that it was born to rule indefinitely. The UPA is passing though a phase where it indulges in an attractive propaganda and then starts to buying its own propaganda. It lives in an illusion of its own glory, little realizing that the ground position is slippery and weak. The next election due is in Karnataka. If the government is so confident of its popularity why are they keen on perpetuating a constitutional fraud by postponing the Karnataka elections? The President’s rule in Karnataka ends on 28th May, 2008 The poll should be held before that date. The Delimitation Commission recommendations on Karnataka were submitted on 23 March, 2007. The Govt. notified those 11 months late. Rule 24 of the Registration of Electorates Rules, 1968 stipulates that after a process of delimitation urgent fast track delimitation shall be done for election going States. Why is that not being done? Deliberate inefficiency cannot be a ground for postponing a poll. Smt. Indira Gandhi in the 42nd amendment to the Constitution had added the second proviso to Article 82. It mentioned that till such time the new delimitation takes effect, elections shall be held on the old delimitation. The mandate is clear. Enforce the new delimitation. By going slow the govt. is deliberately violating the law and using its own violation as a ground to continue President’s rule under Article 356. Since you claim that your Budget has brought you high popularity, holding elections in Karnataka shall be the appropriate occasion to test such popularity. Why do you wish to run away from that. The UPA is in a pathetic situation where it has reduced itself to a situation where early poll in Karnataka seems a scary proposition.

This Government is a threat to democratic and constitutional institutions.

Let us look at the track record of the UPA ----

• The primary institution of the Prime Minister has been weakened.
• A shift of power to extra-constitutional centers of power is taking place
• The Council of Ministers comprises of several tainted ministers. This is the first time that India witnesses the criminalization of the council of ministers.
• To support those in power you decided to subvert the CBI. The manner in which the CBI has been used in the case of Shri Lalu Prasad, Shri Shibu Soren, Satish Sharma, Ottavio Quattrocchi speaks volumes of its misuse. It has been consistently been misused against several Opposition personalities.
• The institution of governance has been subverted so that it can be misused to support the UPA Its fortunes are receding in Jharkhand and Goa are a case in point.
• The Election Commission for the first time witnessed partisan appointments. It is today the Central Govt.’s plea that it is not the Chief Election Commissioner but the political Executive which as the beneficiary of political bias of an Election Commissioner will decide on the existence of the bias.
• By legitimizing the constitutional violation of several UPA personalities occupying office of profit you have created a constitutional imbalance by making the members of the legislature dependent on the Executive.
• Important constitutional functionaries representing the legislature have today launched a virtual war on the judicial institutions.
• The Health Minister is busy in fighting doctors, The Sports minister is busy fighting Indian Olympic Association; Shri Paswan busy in fighting Lalu Yadav and the Commerce Minister is busy fighting the Finance Minister. The Govt. cannot even give an image of collective governance.
• The Left parties were searching for a unique role for themselves; they tried to be too clever and thought they will maintain this government in power and yet occupy the Opposition space. Nandigram was the war launched by the Left against the peasantry. The Left will pay a heavy price for its political acrobatic.

Indecision by the government on the Economic Front

The UPA’s policy on the economic management of the country has been one of the indecision. It usurps credit for the high growth rates forgetting that there is hardly any initiative that the UPA has taken to accelerate the growth rates. The growth is not because of the UPA. It is in spite of the UPA. The engines of growth are the services and the manufacturing sectors. The services sector is not government dependent. The manufacturing sector has not received any fillip from this govt. for its acceleration. The growth in the sectors is entirely entrepreneur driven and not policy driven. The agriculture presents a dismal picture. The growth rate in agriculture have been extremely conservative. Infrastructure development has slowed down. The ports are clogged; the national highways development program; the rural roads program are no longer the priority of the govt. The courage to enforce power sector reforms is lacking. High cost of housing, high cost of education, high cost of food grains, high healthcare costs and high interest rates are the hallmarks of the UPA government.

The Agriculture growth rates under the UPA have been disappointing. Sustainable agriculture is still a challenge. Over 60 percent of India’s population in agriculture is dependent on less than 20 percent share of the agriculture’ share in the GDP. The rural infrastructure is stagnant. Investment in irrigation is negligible. The input cost of the farmer is higher than the outputs he gets. He is caught in a debt trap. Instead of finding a long term solution the Govt of the day is claiming to provide him an instant relief. If this relief becomes a reality we will welcome it but the country still suspects whether the announcements are real or fictional. The non provision in the resources to provide for debt relief or debt waiver compels people to suspect whether it is a promise made without an intention to implement it.

A dismal record on national security

The UPA has linked national security to its vote bank requirements. Barring two failed round table conferences there are no initiatives on Kashmir. Cross border terrorism continues to increase. An unstable Pakistan, a Nepal in turmoil, a Bangladesh from where illegal migration increases are huge causes of concern. And yet the UPA tries to overrule the Supreme Court judgment striking down the IMDT. The POTA was withdrawn and the States are unaware how to handle terror cases.

Divisiveness

Vote bank politics is the last resort of the UPA. Why then would a Government of a country faced with terrorism withdraw an anti terror law? Why should a government appoint a retired Supreme Court judge to say that the train in Godhra was burnt from within and not by the violent mob outside? Why should the Central Govt. refuse consent to Rajasthan and Gujarat to enact laws against organized crime on the pattern of MCOCA?

Religion based reservations, communal budgeting, extension of reservations to the dalits of Muslims/Christians are all divisive proposals intended to create a vote bank politics. The government asks for time to re-examine its position on the Ram Setu project. Its Committee has held that “If he (Rama) were alive today, he himself would not have opposed the project meant for improving the welfare of the people”. The UPA Govt’s intentions are very clear. It again wants to hurt the national sentiments by demolishing the Setu Samundaram project. The country would not pardon it for such a monumental lapse.

Sir, India today needs a determined leadership, a decisive government and firmness on national security. The UPA has given a weak leadership and an indecisive government which compromises on national security. The country can ill-afford this misadventure called the UPA.