NEW DELHI: After none of the amendments to the President’s address on Pegasus were admitted in Rajya Sabha, MPs flagged the matter to Chairman of the House Venkaiah Naidu. They asked why was it turned down, when a similar notice was admitted in Lok Sabha.
CPI (M) MP Elamaram Kareem and Congress MP KC Venugopal had submitted amendments on Pegasus, but they were not admitted by the Rajya Sabha secretariat. A total of 10 amendments on Covid-19 deaths, Pegasus and other issues were not admitted.
Kareem has written to Naidu requesting for ruling regarding the grounds on which the amendments proposed by a member can be admitted or disallowed. “I would like to express my objection over the way some of the amendments proposed by me under Rule 16 have been disallowed. The disallowed amendments are that mentioning the Pegasus issue and the failure of the Union government in effectively dealing with the pandemic. Many other members have reported that amendments by them on these subjects were disallowed,” he said.
Calling the action ‘completely’ undemocratic and unethical, he said: “The action could create an impression among the public that the Rajya Sabha secretariat deliberately excluded the amendments which dealt with incidents that could expose the Union government.
“It is a violation of the rights of the members. Nowhere in the list of admitted amendments can we find the word Pegasus or a sentence regarding the state-sponsored illegal surveillance over the people. Points that could expose the government’s failure in the management of pandemic are also excluded,” he said. Kareem said similar amendments were admitted in Lok Sabha. “So, the Upper House cannot escape from its responsibility to maintain transparency in revealing the reason for this exclusion,” he added.