Walkout over insurance Bill
Tribune News Service and agencies

NEW DELHI, Nov 29 — Members of Left parties, the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal today staged a walkout in the both Houses of Parliament in protest against the government’s proposal to move the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority Bill, that provides for private participation in the sector.

The protest also spilled over outside the Parliament House with thousands of employees of the Life Insurance Corporation, the GIC and various public sector banks staging a dharna to oppose the government’s move to introduce the IRDA Bill.

Incidentally, even as the protests were on inside and outside Parliament, a high-profile seminar on the insurance sector was taking place at a deluxe hotel, a few kilometres away from the scene of protest. The seminar saw several international and Indian speakers speak on the benefits of opening up the insurance sector and the advantages that would accrue to the country on account of it.

Ms Geeta Mukherjee of the CPI led the tirade in the Lok Sabha during the Zero Hour when she claimed that a petition signed by 1.5 crore employees in the insurance sector was pending before the Petition Committee of Parliament and the government should not move the Bill till the petition is disposed of.

Mr Ajay Chakraborty, also from the CPI, said the Bill if passed would amount to an infringement on the economic sovereignty of the country.

Mr Basudeb Acharya of the CPM demanded that the Bill be referred to a Joint Select Committee and claimed that the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, during his days in the Opposition had opposed the move to open up the insurance sector to foreign companies.

He wondered who was pressurising the government and wanted Mr Vajpayee, who was present in the House, to explain his stand as the move was not in the interest of the nation.

The Speaker, Mr G.M.C. Balayogi, however, quoted rules to state that the Bill could be discussed even when a petition was pending before the Petitions Committee.

Congress members remained silent as members of the Left parties protested against the proposed move finally walked out after the Speaker’s ruling.

In the Rajya Sabha, Mr Chittaranjan said tens of thousands of bank and insurance employees were demonstrating in Delhi and elsewhere in the country to register their protest against the government decision which was against the interest of the economy.

Another CPI leader, Mr E. Balanandan, said the entry of the private sector and also the foreign companies in the insurance sector would result in cuts in the investment of the insurance companies in various welfare activities.

The Chairman, Mr Krishan Kant rejected the demand of the members that the government respond to their queries on the issue.

Outside Parliament, employees of insurance companies and banks assembled after a march and threatened to go on a strike if the Bill was tabled in Parliament.

The employees march was led by several parliamentarians, including Mr Gurudas Dasgupta.

Meanwhile, the Congress made it clear today that it would finalise its stand on the Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill only after ascertaining the views of its MPs in the next two days.

The general body of the Congress Party in Parliament (CPP) would meet tomorrow and thereafter the views of its members would be taken on this Bill, party spokesperson Ajit Jogi said.

Replying to a question he said the issues of Bofors and economic reforms were not linked and it was absolutely false to say that these are linked. In the case of Bofors, the party wanted the law to take its own course, but the government should withdraw the name of Rajiv Gandhi from the Bofors charge sheet as there were no charges against him.

Asked about the Attorney General’s view that Rajiv Gandhi’s name cannot be removed from the charge sheet Mr Jogi said the terms of reference before the Attorney-General were different.

In all criminal cases,the state is the prosecutor and therefore in this case the state can withdraw the name of Rajiv Gandhi as this is illegally and wrongly entered there, he said.