THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government on Wednesday witnessed an embarrassing situation in the House with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy presenting the Kerala State Commission for Forward Communities Bill 2015, containing an anti-constitutional content in the statement of objects and reasons.
The lackadaisical manner in which the Bill was prepared pushed the government to the wall, with CPM parliamentary party secretary A K Balan, G Sudhakaran and CPI’s V S Sunil Kumar raising the point of order citing this objectionable content. However, the chief minister readily accepted the folly and told the House that he had removed the objectionable part from the Bill and the revised part of the Bill had been distributed.
But it did not help the government to wriggle out of the predicament as the Opposition members repeatedly tried to cite it as the government’s mindset.
In the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill, it was stated that due to historical and social reasons, a considerable percentage of the forward caste communities belonged to economically backward classes. “The reservation availed of by the Scheduled Caste /Scheduled Tribes, backward and minority communities is limiting the educational and employment opportunities of the youths of the forward communities,” said the statement of objects and reasons.
However, the chief minister made a feeble attempt to save face by pointing out that the Opposition also was guilty of not noticing it even while it was considered in the subject committee.
It was a fact that neither of the five Opposition members who wrote the dissent note to the Bill failed to notice it. G Sudhakaran, who raised the point of order, asked the chief minister to terminate the Law Secretary who was responsible for vetting the Bill, allowing the creeping in of such an anti-constitutional content. He alleged that the government was trying to implement the RSS agenda.
Purushan Kadalundi, K S Saleeha, R Rajesh and V S Sunil Kumar, who spoke from the Opposition benches, grilled the government for the grave failure that would have spread spite among the communities.
P C Vishnunath’s effort to defend the government by listing the various welfare measures taken by the government for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes helped only to provoke Sunil Kumar to unleash an onslaught on the government.
Objects & Reasons
In the statement of objects and reasons of the Kerala State Commission for Forward Communities Bill 2015,, it was stated that due to historical and social reasons, a considerable percentage of the forward caste communities belonged to economically backward classes