NEW DELHI: Major Indian opposition parties in the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) on Tuesday described the president’s address to the joint sitting of both houses as “tepid uninspiring vague and superficial”.
Participating in the discussion on the motion of thanks on the presidential address the members felt that the president did not touch basic issues as decentralization communalism and growing consumerist tendencies and defense policy.
The members were highly critical of the handling of the last general elections by the chief election commissioner and the postponement of the Punjab elections.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Jaswant Singh wanted to know who was responsible for postponement of the Punjab polls and the reasons behind the action
Communist party of India (Marxist)’s Somnath Chatterjee said the president’s address was reproduction of the addresses read out by the president during the previous regimes and had the same vagueness and superficiality.
Moving the motion Congress I’s Buta Singh strongly defended the postponement of Punjab election. He said that the militants had declared the elections as a referendum for Khalistan and appealed to the opposition parties to cooperate with the govt in tackling issues like Punjab and Kashmir.
Former Lok Sabha speaker Rabi Ray of the Janata Dal said the president’s address did not refer to many burning issues and said all parties should try to adhere to the values enshrined in the constitution so that the menace of casteism communalism and concentration of wealth could be fought.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 26, 1991
