Parliament bill spree spurs TMC-BJP exchange of words

KOLKATA: Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s disapproval of his “papri chaat” comment, Trinamool Congress’ Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien on Tuesday said he could have used “dhokla” instead to make the PM happier but it did not negate his claim that the Centre passed 12 bills in Parliament in less than 7 minutes on average in the first 10 days of the monsoon session.On Monday, Derek had said on Twitter whether the government was “passing legislation or making papri chaat”, prompting Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi to say on Tuesday that the PM was anguished over the comment and found it “insulting to the people who elect MPs”.Joshi too took to Twitter, calling it a “Glaring Irony” that “Derek O’Brien accuses govt of rushing bills & fails to note: TMC & Congress are continuously disrupting Parliament, 13 bills passed without discussion in 1 day in Rajasthan, 16 bills passed without discussion in RS during UPA’s regime. Selective Amnesia?”Minority affairs minister and Rajya Sabha deputy leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi raised point of order under Rule 238 and said the comments were baseless.Derek said: “At no point does the minister dispute my contention.”According to data shared by Derek on his Twitter handle, Rajya Sabha passed four bills between July 27 and 30; the bill discussed most — for 8 minutes — was Marine Aids to Navigation Bill, and the bill discussed least — for 1 minute — was Coconut Development Board Bill.In the Lok Sabha, likewise, data posted by Derek shows that from July 26-29, the most discussed bill — for 14 minutes — was Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Bill, and the least discussed — for 3 minutes — was Appropriation (No. 3) Bill. “I have tried to raise an issue in a simple language which is understood by most,” he argued.“Papri chaat is a cultural idiom that people understand. Would the PM be happier if I used ‘dhokla’ instead?” the Trinamool leader later said. Dhokla is a popular Gujarati snack. “I speak in the language of the people. I have taken a serious fact and used a popular cultural idiom to spread the message,” Derek further said.The Trinamool MP and his Lok Sabha colleague, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, served “chaat” to mediapersons on Tuesday and had it themselves.Earlier in the day, three Trinamool Lok Sabha MPs — Saugata Roy, Kalyan Banerjee and Mahua Moitra — attended the breakfast meeting of opposition leaders convened by Congress’ Rahul Gandhi. Trinamool had skipped the first such meeting called by Congress.