BJP on Food Bill: Amartya Sen unaware of Cong's history; we aren't anti-poor

Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen’s criticism of the Opposition’s disruption of the Parliament and his remarks on the heavy human cost of delaying the passage of the Food Security Bill doesn’t seem to have had any impact on the Opposition MPs. The logjam in Parliament continued on Tuesday with the Opposition refusing to let Parliament function unless and until the Law Minister and Railway Minister stepped down. Reacting to the Sen’s remarks, BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said, “We are not anti-poor. The states governed by the Opposition are already giving food security. In fact the Supreme Court has repeatedly said that when it comes to food security, the Chhattisgarh model is the best model. [caption id=“attachment_760313” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi. Image: ibnlive[/caption] “We are bound by our duty to the poor. It was the NDA government that introduced the Antyodaya Anna Yojana and the Annapurna Yojana. This is our background. But at the same time, accountability needs to be established of those whose acts are causing hunger in this country. This drama of showing concern inside Parliament and looting the country outside the Parliament will not do.” Responding to Sen’s remarks that the Opposition’s continued disruption of Parliament was against the tradition of Indian democracy, Lekhi said, “All I can say is that Amartya Sen is low on history. He is an economist and doesn’t know the history of Congress. Or he is trying to shy away from speaking about the history of the Congress. On a thing like Coffingate, which never happened, they boycotted George Fernandes for five years. He (Sen) is probably not aware of how this present government when in Opposition has been guilty of misconduct on frivolous grounds.” Is the BJP not worried that by stalling the Food Security Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill they could be seen as being anti-poor? Dismissing the question, Lekhi said, “This perception is created by a lot of people who are not asking the right question. The right question is why is there disruption, was there an attempt to stifle the speech of the Opposition, if there was, why was it done. And did the UPA Chairperson show misconduct? Those are the questions that need to be asked and unfortunately, for the county, those questions are not being asked. “The government, instead of allowing the Opposition to speak in Parliament, wants to gag the opposition. They cannot loot country with both hands and expect the opposition to clap with both hands.”