Lord Ram is ‘niti’ for us and ‘rajniti’ for some: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP

NEW DELHI, Feb 5 : Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Ganpat Sawant on Monday said in Lok Sabha that the Ram temple has not been made possible today due to any single person and those who had not even gone there are claiming credit for it.

Participating in a debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address, Sawant said that Lord Ram is “niti (policy) for us” and “rajniti (politics) for some”.

“We are happy about the Ram temple construction. We should also remember those who sacrificed their lives for the Ram temple. The temple construction has been made possible today not because of the efforts of one person.

“Those who had not gone there once are now saying they have done it. Lord Ram is love for us but for some people he is business. He is niti for us while for some he is rajniti (politics),” he said.

Sawant, who represents the Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency, also referred to incidents in Maharashtra and Manipur.

“The president said there should be positive dialogue on the country’s culture and civilisation. I was wondering if we have a close look if we are doing it (positive dialogue) or not, we will realise that the civilisation has stooped down to a level that in Maharashtra one MLA went to a police station and shot at another…

“This is an abuse of our culture and civilisation and similar things are happening in Manipur.

“We should not forget Manipur and we should not forget what happened with our players…Their insult, we should not forget,” he added.

Opposing the motion of thanks, Congress MP Rajmohan Unnithan alleged that all the cordial principles of the Constitution are being gradually and systematically undermined in India.

“The rule of law has been selectively ignored..Individual freedom has been muscled. Moreover, federalism a vital principle of the Constitution designed to obviate the concentration of power in a few hands, has been practically nullified in India.

“Judiciary and institutions like the Election Commission of India and the Central Information Commission (CIC) are substantially enfeebled.

“Parliament has been reduced to an ornamental institution for mechanical law-making,” the Kasargod MP alleged.

Samajwadi Party MP ST Hasan flagged the issue of alleged non-payment of salaries to teachers hired to modernise education in madrassas.

“We saw new teachers were hired under the Centre’s scheme to modernise the education in madrassas who did not receive their salaries for 50 months. When the issue was placed forth, their services were discontinued. They used to teach lakhs of students,” he said.

“Scholarships for Muslims such as Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) were discontinued. Why was the budget for Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Jamia Millia Islamia reduced? And then you say you don’t discriminate,” he said. (PTI)