Lok Sabha will today resume discussion on election reforms. Yesterday, intervening in the discussion, Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said, Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Electoral rolls were conducted several times during the Congress regime, but now the opposition is raising questions over the exercise.
He lauded the country’s voting structure saying that everyone got equal voting rights since Independence. He said, Narendra Modi government passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam which seeks to reserve one-third of the total number of seats for women in Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies and Delhi Assembly.
Mr Meghwal said elections are not merely a political exercise, but a festival of democracy celebrated by crores of people who participate in it. He said the election process in the country was being carried out as per the principles laid down by Dr BR Ambedkar.
Several other members of the house also participated in the discussion.
In the Rajya Sabha, house will resume further discussion 150th Anniversary of Song Vande Mataram. Yesterday, initiating the discussion, Mr Shah stressed that the song will remain relevant in the nation’s journey towards Viksit Bharat. The Home Minister criticised Congress for questioning the need for a debate on Vande Mataram and linking it to the upcoming West Bengal elections.
The Minister said, freedom fighters used to begin every meeting with the singing of Vande Mataram and today, when brave soldiers make the supreme sacrifice at the border, they utter Vande Mataram. Mr Shah said, through Vande Mataram, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay established the culture, tradition of worshipping the country as a mother and cultural nationalism.
The Home Minister said, overcoming all restrictions and enduring oppression and numerous hardships, Vande Mataram touched the hearts of the countrymen and spread from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
He said, Vande Mataram emerged against the backdrop of centuries of Islamic invasions that had weakened the country’s culture and as a response to the British attempt to impose a new civilisation and culture.
The Home Minister said, the discussion of Vande Mataram in both Houses will help future generations understand its true importance and its glory.
Participating in the discussion, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said Congress made Vande Mataram the slogan during the freedom struggle. He said, when Mahatma Gandhi started the non-cooperation movement, lakhs of freedom fighters from the Congress went to jail chanting Vande Mataram.
Mr Kharge said the song Vande Mataram entered public life in India when Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore first sang it at the Congress session in Calcutta in 1896.