The Opposition’s politics has become directionless, when they had the chance to express their opinions on farm bills and other issues in the Parliament they walked out, said Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday. Javadekar added that the Opposition had 300 days to meet the President or protest elsewhere over the issues but they should not have boycotted the Parliament session. “The politics of Opposition parties is directionless when they had the right to raise their voices and express their opinion in the Parliament they walked out and are now protesting outside. They are meeting the President, there are 300 more days for this. The Parliament session runs for 70-80 days, and we didn’t stop anyone from speaking,” Javadekar said. The BJP leader further asserted that the behaviour of the Opposition leaders inside the Rajya Sabha was “shameful”. “Important Bills related to agriculture were moved and discussed on, the way the Opposition behaved was shameful for the house. They wanted division, the Deputy Chairman continuously asked them to return to their seats and assured them that he would give division then. Now they are complaining everywhere that it (division) did not happen. This is a matter of chori par seenazori,” he said. Praising the farm Bills passed by both the houses of Parliament, Javadekar said, “The farmers of the country have got a boon, they were saying MSP will not be there, but it happened, now purchase will take place. Then they said APMCs will be closed, but they aren’t closing, what the Opposition is doing is very bad.” The Upper House had witnessed unruly scenes on Sunday as Opposition members stormed the well of the House and came near the podium, where Deputy Chairman Harivansh was seated, to protest against the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020. The Union Minister further raised the issue of the Opposition abstaining from discussions on the labour-code Bills passed by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. “Yesterday three Bills which give workers wage, social, and health security were passed. After 73 years of Independence, these three securities were given to the workers. They assure minimum wage, free checkup, equal pay for male and female workers, among other benefits, to the workers. These labour codes are a revolutionary step, the Opposition should have come and discussed. But they boycotted it and are now blaming us, it is wrong,” Javadekar said. On Tuesday, Lok Sabha passed three labour code legislations which envisage covering over 50 crore workers from organised and unorganised sectors and self-employed categories for minimum wages and social security. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020, the Industrial Relations Code 2020 and the Code on Social Security 2020 were passed by Lok Sabha after a reply by Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar. The three bills were later passed by a voice vote in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
