The NDA government on Wednesday came under fire from the Opposition for taking the Ordinance route for key insurance and coal sector reforms and was accused of "bulldozing" the democratic process.
The CPI(M), which cautioned against imposing an authoritarian manner of parliamentary functioning, even wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee urging him not to approve these measures cleared by the Cabinet, a day after the Winter session of Parliament was adjourned sine die. The Cabinet cleared the Ordinance to increase FDI cap from 26 to 49% in the insurance sector and re-promulgated the Ordinance to allow resumption of coal block allocation.
Both the measures could not be taken up in Rajya Sabha in the Winter Session that was marred by disruptions over religious conversion and other issues. "Trinamool Congress slams the government for taking the Ordinance route. It is extremely unethical to avoid and bypass the democratic process. What value does it serve to bulldoze the democratic process?," TMC spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien told PTI in Kolkata.
"For one month they (government) tried to pass this in Rajya Sabha where they are in a hopeless minority.
"Just 24 hours after Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die they used this back door route," he said. "The united Opposition were asking the Prime Minister to come and speak to Parliament about some serious issues facing the nation. He shied away and today they did this", O'Brien said. Terming the move to issue Ordinances as "clear violation" of parliamentary norms, senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury sought the President's intervention to ensure it is not permitted.
"I am sincerely requesting you not to sanction such Ordinances," Yechury said in his letter to the President. "I am sincerely requesting you to intervene in order to 'nip in the bud' such tendencies which may result in imposing an authoritarian manner of parliamentary functioning. This would be completely antithetical to the letter and spirit of our constitutionally established parliamentary democracy," he wrote. Congress accused the government of "subverting and weakening" institutions and said it will oppose the "Ordinance Raj". "This government wants to subvert institutions.
Parliament session has come to an end just yesterday. It is wrong for any government to bring an Ordinance in such a manner just a day after the session is over," Party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed told reporters in Delhi.
When asked whether Congress will urge President Mukherjee not to give his nod to the Ordinance, Ahmed evaded a direct reply saying he has not read its text. "We are againt Ordinance Raj technically, " he said.
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