BJP, opposition MPs spar in house panel for Home Affairs
Nov 03, 2022
By Payal Mehta
New Delhi [India], November 3 : Members of Parliament of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition sparred over the mention of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas" in a presentation made by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) before the Parliamentary panel for Home Affairs on Thursday.
Senior officials from DoNER Ministry were present before the panel. "To hear the views of the Secretary, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region on the functioning of the Ministry," was the subject picked for discussion on Thursday.
Sources said that in the course of the presentation, one of the slides mentioned "Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas" to which several opposition MPs objected why the slogan of a political party was being discussed during the course of a committee meeting.
A couple of BJP MPs argued that this was not the political slogan of the ruling party but something which was coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the country as its PM. Opposition MPs further argued that this was part of the BJP's manifesto in 2014 and this needs to be withdrawn.
Among the opposition parties who voiced their opinion in this matter against the BJP-led panel included the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Biju Janta Dal (BJD).
Members of Parliament from the opposition also demanded a discussion on the State-Centre relationship and the federal structure of the country which was approved by the earlier chairman Abhishek Manu Singhvi. However, the chairman of the panel Brij Lal objected to the same and said that only the selected subjects would be discussed and this could not feature in this because this was not part of the annual schedule drawn up.
Thursday's meeting was attended by several members including chairman Brij Lal along with TMC MP Derek O'Brien, BJD MP Sujeet Kumar, and BJP MPs Neeraj Shekhar, Anil Jain amongst others
The home panel is soon going to be on a tour to the northeast to work further on the agenda of the issue of the north-east states and prepare a detailed report about the same.
