Madam Speaker,

I rise in support of the motion to give thanks to Respected Rashtrapatiji on her address to Parliament on the occasion of the beginning of the 15th Lok Sabha.

At the outset, it gives me immense pleasure to join the entire House in congratulating you warmly on your unanimous election as the Speaker of the 15th Lok Sabha. Your election has marked a proud milestone in the history of Indian Parliament. To see you in this august office is to see, simultaneously, an important triumph of both Social Justice and Gender Justice — both Social Empowerment and Women’s Empowerment.

Madam Speaker, I had the honour of working with your illustrious father, as a fellow parliamentarian in the Sixth Lok Sabha (I was a member of the Rajya Sabha then) and also as a fellow minister in the Janata Party government. Babu Jagjivan Ram had built a great reputation for himself as one of the ablest administrators. He was a minister in every single government at the Centre, beginning with the Interim Government that Pandit Nehru headed soon after Independence. A learned man, he endeared himself to one and all in the House, cutting across party lines.

Madam Speaker, what is proved by you or your father or Dr. Ambedkar, who was the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, is that a PERSON BECOMES GREAT BY HIS OR HER KARMA, AND NOT BY JANMA.

THAT ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE EQUAL AND THAT ALL HAVE THE DIVINE POTENTIAL IN THEM TO RISE TO THEIR FULL POTENTIAL.

I am sure that you too will raise the reputation of your high office with your erudition, impartiality, and long parliamentary and governmental experience. I wish to solemnly pledge on this occasion that, in conducting the House, you can count on the fullest support from the Opposition benches — from my party as well as all other parties in the opposition.

This being the first session of the 15th Lok Sabha, I take this occasion to warmly congratulate Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Leader of the House Shri Pranab Mukherjee, and Congress President and UPA chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi. The people have given a renewed mandate to the Congress party and the UPA government. It is indeed a bigger mandate than in 2004.

I take this opportunity to also congratulate both the old and new faces in the council of ministers.

No doubt, my party and the NDA are disappointed by the outcome of Elections 2009. But we have accepted the people’s verdict with humility. Victory and defeat are a part of the electoral process. And this is not the occasion or the platform for an analysis of why the people preferred one party and one alliance over the other. Each of the parties in the opposition is engaged in its own analysis of the election results. Nevertheless, two broad comments are in order.

Firstly, irrespective of who won and who lost, the irrefutable fact is that the greatest victor is India’s Democracy. Our country has shown once again to the world that ours is not only the largest democracy in the world because of numbers, but also the most vibrant. I remember that on many occasions in the past, especially after Independence, foreigners used to wonder if democracy can survive in this country of such immense diversity and so many illiterate people. They also used to be skeptical about the future of India as a united nation.

India has disproved all of them. Thus, the victory of India’s democracy is our collective victory – the victory of the party and alliance that won, as well as the parties and alliances that lost.

Secondly, in my comments after the election results were known, I commented that the people have given their verdict in favour of stability and bipolarity. In recent days I have reflected upon the direction in which Indian politics is headed in the coming years. I will not say that regional parties and smaller parties have no place in national politics. Nor will I say, as Dr. Manmohan Singh did during the election campaign, that regional parties are an obstacle to growth. However, I do believe that the people want more cohesive alliances, in the absence of which they want to see national parties become stronger.

All of us, especially those in the treasury benches, should reflect on why the people have shown such strong preference for stability. Stability cannot be an end in itself. It is not a mandate for the government to function any which way it wants for five years. Rather, the people want the government to be stable so that it can perform better. So that it can give a better account of itself on GOOD GOVERNANCE, DEVELOPMENT and SECURITY.

GOOD GOVERNANCE, DEVELOPMENT and SECURITY was the election plank of my party. However, there cannot be any monopoly or copyright on the three principles of GOOD GOVERNANCE, DEVELOPMENT and SECURITY. People expect every party or alliance that is elected to form the government to adhere to these principles.

Hence, I wish to assure the Prime Minister and the Leader of the House that my party and the NDA will extend full and constructive support to the government whenever we find that you are protecting the interests of the nation and advancing the interests of the people by adhering to GOOD GOVERNANCE, DEVELOPMENT and SECURITY. But when we find that you are doing otherwise, we shall certainly oppose the government both inside Parliament and outside.

Let the government do its duty. And we shall do our duty. By performing our respective duties, let us pledge today to jointly strengthen India’s democracy and enhance the power and prestige of India’s Parliament.

The din and drama of elections is over. Let us put behind us the acrimony of the election campaign. The new Lok Sabha has been constituted. The ministers have taken charge in their respective ministries.  Let us begin a new chapter in government-opposition relations in the 15th Lok Sabha.

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Madam Speaker,

I now come to some of the substantive aspects of the President’s Address to Parliament. Since the President’s Address to Parliament is prepared and approved by the Cabinet as an account of what the new government intends to do and how it plans to address the many challenges before the nation, it is the duty of the opposition to look at it meticulously.

Release of Hafeez Saeed

I must express my deep disappointment over the rather cavalier and non-specific manner in which the government has mentioned the problem of terrorism in paras 9 and 42. The entire nation – indeed, the entire world – was horrified and outraged by the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attack on Mumbai on 26 November 2008. The carnage is still fresh in the minds of the people. But there is another thing that has horrified, outraged and alarmed the people of India and the international community. And that is the news a few days ago that the government of Pakistan, by presenting a weak case before the Lahore high court, has allowed Hafeez Saeed, leader of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the hardline politico-religious front of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, and a mastermind of 26/11, to walk out of jail.

Saeed is accused of aiding and abetting the Mumbai attacks in the chargesheet filed by Mumbai Police. He is the head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which were listed by the United Nations under UNSC Resolution 1267, as being affiliates of al-Qaida and Taliban. Saeed was specifically listed as linked to these terrorist groups last year after India provided evidence about his involvement in terrorist strikes.

Pakistan government cannot hide behind the pretext that it is a court decision and hence cannot be interfered with. The entire world knows how independent the judiciary is in Pakistan. The media have reported that the court released Saeed on “technical” grounds — namely, lack of evidence. The evidence was lacking since the government of Pakistan simply did not furnish it before the court.

Pakistan cannot fool the world opinion with this kind skullduggery.

I know that the government has conveyed its displeasure to Pakistan. But, frankly, the government’s response has been weak. It does not reflect the sense of outrage that the people of India have felt at the game of deception being played by Pakistan.

During the election campaign, Congress leaders claimed that the UPA government’s “strong” approach to tackling terrorism was evident in the manner in which it had dealt with Pakistan after 26/11. The claim was: “Look, we got them to admit that Pakistani nationals were involved.” It was as if Congress leaders were giving a certificate of sincerity and earnestness to the government of Pakistan. But look what has happened now.

26/11: My four demands

Today, through the medium of this debate, I want to place four demands before the government. Firstly, it should place before this House the full evidence that the government of India has shared with the government of Pakistan on the involvement of Saeed and his accomplices in 26/11 and also in previous terrorist attacks in India. The people of India have a right to know all the facts and all the evidence that have so far come to light. Besides, by bringing this evidence into the public domain, India and the international community can put further pressure on Pakistan not to derail the trial of the leaders of the anti-India terrorist organizations operating from Pakistan.

But there is another reason why this evidence must be made public. Ever since 26/11, people in India and elsewhere in the world have been asking one question: Was it only the handiwork of some Pak-based terrorist organizations or was there also some involvement of the ISI and other official agencies? This truth must also come out. For far too long, the rulers in Pakistan have been trying to fool the global community by pretending that terrorists belonging to organizations like the Lashkar-e-Toiba are independent actors. This falsehood must be nailed.

Renowned Pakistani journalist and author Zahid Husain, in his book FRONTLINE PAKISTAN, has written with a lot of well-researched information that Lashkar-e-Toiba’s links with the ISI are unbreakable.

My second demand is that the government should place before the House evidence about Kasab, the only terrorist linked to 26/11 who was caught alive, and what has come out of his statements during the investigation.

My third demand is that the judicial trial of Kasab, which is now underway, should be completed as early as possible. People want to see that justice is delivered and done in this case without the kind of delay that unfortunately has been witnessed in many terrorist cases in India so far.

26/11: Need for a Commission of Inquiry

My fourth demand is indeed a reiteration of my earlier demand, made in the session of Parliament held after 26/11. It is that the Centre must set up a high-level judicial commission to probe all aspects of 26/11, in the same way that the US government set up a Commission to inquire 9/11.

My demand stems from the news last week that the government of Maharashtra, which had come in for sharp criticism during the 26/11 attack, has got a clean chit from the Ram Pradhan committee. The two-member committee appointed by the state government for inquiry of lapses during 26/11 has blamed the central government for intelligence failure.

I am quoting here a news report in The Times of India of 28 May 2009, titled ‘Centre to blame for 26/11 lapse: Panel’. It reads: "During his visit to Mumbai after the terror attack, Union home minister P C Chidambaram apologized to the citizens of the state, this itself indicated lapses from the Union government," said R D Pradhan, after submitting the 100-page report to chief minister Ashok Chavan.”

Madame Speaker, there are many things questionable about the findings of this committee. Firstly, here was an episode that led to the sacking of the state’s chief minister and deputy chief minister, who was also the home minister. And yet, the committee gives a clean chit to the state government.
Secondly, the committee seems to have made shoddy job of its mandate. Indeed, both the terms of reference as well as the actual functioning of the committee, left a lot to be desired. Let me again quote from the Times of India report:
 
”The probe panel was an administrative committee and not a judicial panel, hence many issues that are subjudice were not investigated, Pradhan said and added, "The panel was approached by many of the non-official persons, but we decided not to meet any of these people. The report does not include version of the non-officials, but is based on the enquiry conducted of over 50 police officers (ranging from constable to senior IPS officers)."

”Post attack many people including politicians from the ruling and opposition parties had criticized the functioning of the police control room. However after the probe, the conclusion of the panel was surprising.”

Another report, in DNA of 28 May 2009, states that Vinita Kamte, wife of slain police officer Ashok Kamte who was killed during the 26/11 terror attacks, expressed disappointment over the Ram Pradhan committee report which has given a clean chit to the Mumbai police and government. According to the report, she wanted to depose before the committee but was not allowed to do so. She has also alleged that “certain portions of the call records of the police control room on November 26 were deleted”.

This is a serious matter. There is strong suspicion among the people of Mumbai, Maharashtra and the rest of the country that the Pradhan Committee has done a “white wash” job to protect the Congress government in the state.

Hence, my fourth demand: The central government must set up a judicial commission to inquire into all aspects of 26/11 — the lapses at the state level as well as the central level. After all, many senior functionaries in the UPA government — Prime Minister, former Home Minister (who was asked to resign after 26/11), Defence Minister and the National Security Advisor — had spoken about the possibility of terrorists using the sea route to mount an attack.

The truth must come out. Accountability must be fixed. Moreover, the 26/11 Inquiry Commission, and the implementation of the measures that it would recommend, would help India minimize possible terrorist attacks on India in the future. At any rate, it will help us to be better prepared.

Mr. Prime Minister, do not think that I am raising this demand to score political points. The people of India, who have given your government a second term in spite of a weak record in fighting terrorism, expect this from you.

One Rank One Pension

Madam Speaker,

I am happy to note that the President’s Address, in Para 12, has talked about the issue of ONE RANK ONE PENSION for ex-servicemen. They have been demanding it for a long time. They even launched a prolonged agitation at Jantar Mantar. I had gone there to show my solidarity with their demand. Over 11,000 ex-Army personnel had returned their gallantry medals in protest.

The President’s Address, however, does not give a firm commitment that the Government would accept this demand. The wording is very vague and cannot satisfy ex-servicemen.

I demand that the Prime Minister, when he replies to this debate, give a firm commitment that his government would implement ONE RANK ONE PENSION within the first 100 days.

DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

Girls’ education: Why not implement Ladli Laxmi Yojana?

Madam Speaker,

After Security, I’ll turn to some Development-related issues.

I am pleased to know that the Respected Rashtrapati’s Address shows concern about female literacy in the country. It rightly laments in Para 21 that “While male literacy went up to over 75% in the last census and is expected to be higher now, female literacy was only 54% in 2001.”

The Address goes to say: “My Government will recast the National Literacy Mission as a National Mission for Female Literacy to make every woman literate in the next five years.” I welcome this commitment. However, I would have been happy if the Address had also said that the Central Government would work closely with, and fully support the existing initiatives of, all the State Governments in achieving this mission.

Why do I say this? I say so because, unfortunately, a certain political culture has grown in this country in which the Centre thinks that it should take the credit for everything, and if something good is being done by a state government run by an opposition party, it should be ignored.

Take, for example, the Ladli Laxmi Yojana being implemented by the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh. Its specific objective is to promote female literacy and education. It provides financial assistance to the girl child at regular intervals and, when she completes 12th standard, the scheme gives her 1,20,000 rupees. To the best of my knowledge, it is the only one of its kind. And it has achieved significant success.

I would like the Prime Minister to adopt this scheme for nationwide implementation. As I said earlier, there is no copyright of my party for this scheme. After all, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which has been mentioned in the President’s Address, was launched by the NDA government. Similarly, there are several good schemes launched by the Congress governments in the past.

If the nation is to progress faster, we should discard the mental habit of trying to score political points in the area of implementation of development schemes.

Full support to Women’s Reservation Bill

Madam Speaker,

While on the point of women’s all-round development empowerment, let me state that my party will fully support the bill on women’s reservation in Parliament and State Legislatures, as and when the government brings it forward.

This bill is awaiting passage for a long, long time.

I guess that perhaps it was waiting for the 15th Lok Sabha when a woman would become the Speaker!

IT literacy

Madam Speaker,

On the issue of literacy, let me make another important point. Today in the 21st century, it is not enough for a person, man or woman, to be simply literate. Every Indian, especially girls and boys belonging to the new generation, must also become IT LITERATE.

My party, in its IT Vision Document — and I am placing it on the table of the House — has developed a comprehensive vision of how IT and the Internet can assist in India’s all-round transformation. A specific point in it is about how we can create as many 1.2 crore IT-enabled employment opportunities in rural India alone.

I strongly believe that the INTERNET is the third greatest invention of mankind, after the Wheel and Electricity. Its benefits must reach every Indian. To begin with, access to the Internet in Indian languages, and Internet-based education at all levels, including primary and secondary levels, should be our goal to be reached in five years.

MULTI-PUPORSE NATIONAL IDENTITY CARD

Another point is about the introduction of a MULTI-PUPORSE NATIONAL IDENTITY CARD. The President’s Address, in Para 13, talks about a “UNIQUE IDENTITY CARD” for each citizen in three years. I would urge that it should not only be UNIQUE, but also MULTI-PURPOSE.

I do not have to belabour this point. Today a citizen has a voter ID card, ration card, driving license, PAN card, etc. Why can’t we have a single MULTI-PUPORSE NATIONAL IDENTITY CARD?

Making India hunger-free: Disturbing UNICEF Report

Madam Speaker,

I am sure everyone in this House will agree that the focus of all our efforts in development should be ANTYODAYA – development of the Last Man in the queue. This means that the poor, belonging to all communities, should have the first claim on the nation’s budgetary resources.

Whether India’s GDP grows at 7 % 9% is less important than whether the benefits of growth reach the poorest Indians or not. In this context, I was most disturbed by media reports this week that, according to a recent UNICEF report, “the number of hungry in India increased from 209.5 million in 2004-06 to 230 million by end of 2007-08”

Clearly, both the Central and State governments have to redouble their efforts to end abject poverty, especially hunger, in our country.

Bringing Indian wealth stashed away in Swiss banks

Madam Speaker,

An important issue came up during the recent election campaign — that of the enormous Indian wealth stashed away in Swiss banks and other tax havens around the world. Estimates vary, but it is generally regarded that the amount is quite substantial.

I had myself given a lot of prominence to this issue in my campaign. I must mention here that the JD(U), CPI(M) and other parties also had raised this issue.

The Prime Minister’s initial response was dismissive. However, the government itself submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court confirming that it is a non-trivial matter and that it is seized of the matter. The affidavit also mentioned that the IT department had raised a demand of Rs. 78,000 crore against an alleged hawala dealer based in Pune.

As the issue gained momentum, even the Prime Minister stated in his interview to The Times of India on 25 April that he would include the matter of bringing back the black money salted away in tax havens abroad in his 100-day Action Plan.

I am surprised to see that it is not there in the 100-day action plan mentioned in the President’s Address.

The people of India want this money back, because it belongs to the nation and must be used for the nation’s development. I would like to know, and the entire country would like to know, from the Prime Minister what his government is going to do in this matter.

No mention of corruption in the Address

Madam Speaker,

I am pained to see that the government’s future agenda of governance is eloquently silent on the issue of fighting CORRUPTION. Indeed, the word “corruption” does not figure anywhere in the President’s Address.

It does not figure even in Para 31, which talks about “reform of governance for effective delivery of public services”.

How can governance be reformed if the cancer of corruption is not even recognized and no political will shown to cure it?

The Congress party and the government are today in a state of euphoria over their electoral victory. Perhaps they think that corruption is not an issue at all.

But I would like to advise and warn the Prime Minister and the leadership of the Congress to look at what happened to Rajiv Gandhi’s government. He had won over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha for his party in 1984. Within two years, the most famous and politically explosive scandal of corruption in India’s history broke out. It badly enfeebled the government and ultimately caused its downfall in 1989.

The entire country knows how the Bofors scandal was covered up. Some of the brazen cover-up actions, in terms of helping the main accused in the scandal, were taken up by the previous UPA government. Some shocking revelations came even as the election campaign was underway.

I do not want to go into all that today. The people of India know everything.

Let not the victory of the Congress be interpreted in a such a manner as to think that the people have given a clean chit to the Congress or that they think that they are going to keep quiet if action is not taken against corruption at high and low places.

Above all, all talk of GOOD GOVERNANCE REFORM is meaningless without a resolve to fight corruption. The Prime Minister’s personal reputation is at stake. He should prove that he is a strong Prime Minister by taking stringent action to eliminate corruption in his government.

Some foreign policy issues

Madame Speaker,

I shall conclude by making a few remarks on foreign policy matters mentioned in the President’s Address.

India’s foreign policy must regain its central focus on our neighbourhood. Recent happenings in our immediate neighbourhood are a matter of concern.

Sri Lanka

The government of Sri Lanka has finally overcome the challenge of the LTTE. But the manner in which the civilian Tamil population was made to suffer is a matter that has shocked the conscience of the international community. India must continue to stand by the democratic rights and aspirations of the ethnic Tamil population in Sri Lanka. No durable solution to the ethnic issue is possible without recognizing and delivering justice and dignity to the Tamil people in the country.

Nepal

There has been a change of government in Nepal. I welcome this development. The Maoists’ anti-India campaign was evident even in the recent developments in Nepal.

Let us wish the new Prime Minister, Shri Madhav Nepal, and his government success in dealing with the challenges facing the country. On our part, India must work to regain the strength of the traditional ties between our two countries.

Bangladesh

I am disappointed to see that there is no mention in the President’s Address of the problem of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in Assam and elsewhere in the country. India must take up this issue with Bangladesh. First, the government must do what it has been asked by the Supreme Court to do.

China

India should work for normalization of relations with China. There should be no let-up in these efforts. However, it is of utmost importance to ensure that India does not convey, even inadvertently, the impression of bending over backwards to please China.

Some recent reports about further Chinese assistance to Pakistan’s nuclear programme are worrisome. China also continues to rake up the Arunachal Pradesh issue.

The people of India expect the government to be firm in these matters.

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Madam Speaker,

This is all I have to say.

Once again, congratulations to you. And congratulations to the Prime Minister and his new government.