Congress accuses PM Modi of contempt of Parliament

The main Opposition Congress on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of committing contempt of Parliament by not being present in either the Rajya Sabha or the Lok Sabha during the passage of the GST Bill.

“It is a matter of lament that the Prime Minister could not spare even five minutes to be present during the passage of the legislation which he had labelled as one of the most progressive and revolutionary,” party spokesman Jairam Ramesh told reporters here.

“The Prime Minister was not on a foreign tour. He was sitting in his office in Parliament. It is a contempt of Parliament,” he said.

Mr Ramesh said that this was the first occasion in independent India that the Prime Minister was not present while passage of a Constitution amendment bill. Holding that Mr Modi had hailed the Constitution as his Bhagvad Gita, he took a dig at the Prime Minister for remaining absent when the 19th chapter of the “Gita” was being written.

“The PM could tweet about GST, but couldn’t be present in Rajya Sabha. Parliament appeared to be PM-mukt,” he said, noting that Mr Modi was not present in the Lok Sabha when the GST bill was passed last year.

Mr Ramesh suggested that Prime Minister could have deliberately stayed away from Parliament given the fact that earlier as Gujarat chief minister, he had opposed the GST for three years.

While asking the government not to bring the CGST and the IGST bills as “money bills” and thus bypass the Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA lacks majority he said “we are watching”.

Asked what are the options before the Congress if the government does not bring the two bills in the Upper House he said “wait for few days”.