New Delhi, Dec 25: Castigating Congress strategy of disrupting Parliament session after session, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the party should rue over the fact that “disproportionate and irrational” approach was hurting institutions.
With Congress not agreeing to pass the landmark Goods & Services Tax (GST) bill that will make India one market, Jaitley in a facebook post titled ‘Stray Thoughts After the Winter Session’ asked if the country has not lost out by delaying the GST since the last year’s Budget Session.
Crediting first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for laying down healthy precedents in the initial years of Indian democracy, he said “the current generation in control of the Congress Party will find a place in history of having weakened what their ancestors established.”
“How far is it desirable to pass important legislation on the last day without discussion? Statistically, we have passed a law. But has Parliament applied its mind to the law?,” he asked.
Commenting on the Winter Session of Parliament that concluded on Wednesday, Jaitley said parliamentary protests are not unheard of in India and there are precedents of disturbance in extreme cases in the past.
“But the last two sessions have witnessed a clear stand of the Congress Party that Parliament shall not be allowed to function.
“Most of the Congress leaders, in private, have expressed helplessness over the decision of their leadership that Parliament must be disturbed continuously. The moot question which arises for the Congress Party is, ‘how does India legislate?’,” he said.
