Ramvilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party supports Communal Violence Bill; opposes BJP

The Lokjanshakti Party (LJP) today supported introduction of Communal Violence Bill in Parliament and asked BJP to place its arguments in the House instead of trying to stall the presentation.

"It's natural that the BJP will oppose it. But they should present their views in Parliament instead of opposing its presentation," party President Ramvilas Paswan, whose party supports the UPA government from outside, said here.

Paswan asked BJP not to stall the introduction of the Bill and present their argument in the House referring to its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against its introduction. "LJP is in favour of introduction of the Communal Violence Bill in Parliament," he said.

He said that there were some shortcomings in the Bill against which the party would give suggestions in Parliament. "BJP is seeking debate on Article 370 so why should there not be a debate on the Communal Violence Bill?" he questioned.

Paswan, who has an alliance with the RJD of Lalu Prasad in Bihar, also said that Article 370 that provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir should not be 'tinkered with'. "Jan Sangh founder leader Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was a member of the Constituent Assembly when it was incorporated in the Constitution. This happened with everybody's consent and people of the country have accepted this," he said. 

Also read: Bhartiya Janata Party decides to oppose Communal Violence Bill in Parliament