“Don’t be hasty, change gears. Otherwise what happened in Bengal will happen in the rest of the country,” the Trinamool MP told the centre.
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien, asking the centre to pay heed to the opposition’s demands, warned: “What happened in Bengal will happen across the country.”
While speaking in Rajya Sabha during the debate on the 127th Constitution Amendment Bill, the leader of the Trinamool’s parliamentary party in Rajya Sabha asserted that he supports the legislation, but said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be present in the House for this discussion.
The legislation, which proposes to restore the powers of states to prepare their own lists of OBCs for providing reservation in jobs and educational institutions, was passed in Lok Sabha yesterday.
“We are really missing our honourable Prime Minister… I make a humble appeal…This is an important Constitution amendment Bill. I am sure my appeal will not fall on deaf ears and he will come here to listen to us,” Mr O’Brien said.
Refering to the just concluded Tokyo Olympics held amid the Covid pandemic, where cardboard cutouts of crowds and piped-in cheers were used to simulate the atmosphere of a crowded stadium, Mr O’Brien suggested that the house could have a cut-out of the Prime Minister. “Or else, in the Olympic spirit, we can have a cutout too, but that would not be very Parliamentary,” he said.
There is no doubt that the Prime Minister is a “great believer in the Olympic Games”, the Trinamool MP said, taking a swipe. “There is an Olympic God… Poseidon is linked today to Army, media, judiciary, activists, Opposition members, Abhishek Banerjee…because Olympic God Poseidon’s son is called Pegasus.” Mr O’Brien went on to add that the government does not want to discuss the issue because “if we start discussing it, lots of skeletons will come out of the cupboard”.
Mr O’Brien in his comments had invoked the Greek mythology, in which the mythical divine winged horse Pegasus is considered the offspring of Poseidon, one of the 12 Olympian gods.
The Trinamool MP, while hitting out at the government over implementing legislation, including the GST, said: “My request to the government is take our advice, don’t be hasty, change gears. Otherwise what happened in Bengal will happen in the rest of the country.”
Mr O’Brien also questioned why caste census is not being held despite the widespread demand for it. “Why no Caste-based Census? Why no Caste-based Census? It is an obvious question. It is a rhetorical question,” he said.
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