V-P Dhankhar discriminated against opposition MPs: Congress leader Digvijay Singh

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Veteran Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday accused the country's Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar of discriminating against opposition MPs. In an interview Digvijay Singh who is also the Rajya Sabha MP, spoke on a range of issues like EVMs, Waqf Amendment Bill, PM Modi's Puja ahead of Maha Kumbh and many other issues. Opposition has brought a no-confidence motion against the country's Vice President, who is the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. How do you see this?Digvijay Singh: This is not happening for the first time, the opposition has been constantly feeling that the chairman does not listen to the opposition's appeals. Earlier he was in our party (Rajasthan Congress MLA from -1993-98). For some time now, he has been constantly not giving the opposition an opportunity to speak. In this session, we demanded a discussion on some issues because this was the first time when a charge sheet was presented against an Indian business family in the US and we wanted to discuss it, but he refused it. He kept refusing, then the opposition also demanded discussion under Rajya Sabha Rule 267 (under this rule, with the consent of the chairman, the pre-determined work or agenda in the House can be stopped and a discussion can be held on a particular issue and questions can be asked to the government on that issue) or discussion on other topics and but did not accept Rule 267. He even did not allow the opposition MPs to give their statement; however, many MPs gave statements without a proposal. After this, for three days, senior MPs from the ruling party, the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and the Leader of the House made such allegations on behalf of the BJP, for which permissions should have been sought in writing before including them in the House as per the rules. They made allegations against Sonia Gandhi ji, but full information about this was not given. This was a direct violation of our rule book and the rules of the Rajya Sabha. The opposition was angry about all these things and the way he showed bias was a matter of concern. The issue of EVM is being raised by the opposition. Do you think EVMs have really been tampered with? Digvijay Singh: As far as EVM is concerned, it is our fundamental right to vote for whomever we want and that vote should be counted properly. Now, after the introduction of EVM, no one is being given a receipt. Whereas, in 2013, the Supreme Court had ordered that a printed receipt should be given to the voter, now what is happening is that the VVPAT is shown for only 7 seconds, but that receipt is not given to us. We have two main complaints. First, the message from the ballot unit goes to the VVPAT and the message of the VVPAT is sent to the control unit. The printer is in the VVPAT. It goes through the microprocessor. Software is inserted in it, but that software is not revealed. Our request is that there should be no problem in voting through voting paper because this will make people believe that the vote is being counted at the place where we cast it. People say that this will take more time, but we say that now generally 14 to 16 counting tables are used. If you set up 50-60 or 70 tables, then the counting will be done easily. We do not have any shortage of government employees or officers, nor is there a shortage of space. The government has this facility. With this, counting can be completed in 6-7 rounds and counting will be over in hardly 8 hours. People will start believing in this system. That is why we do not trust EVM because the software that is inserted into it is not revealed, and it is also not told how that machine works. Software is inserted in it through signal loading and names are loaded, which is done through the Internet. We say that either get the voting done through ballot paper or if they love EVM, then give that slip in our hand so that we can put it in the ballot box separately. But, last time you won with this EVM. What will you say about that?Digvijay Singh: I do not want to discuss who won and who lost. My main issue is that I have the right to vote while following my fundamental rights. I should be given my vote in my hand so that I can see that it is being put in the ballot box in the right manner. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attending the Bhoomi Pujan of Kumbh on Friday. Should he attend the Bhoomi Pujan? You should definitely go. We have no objection to this. If any person wants to go somewhere according to his faith, then it is his right. Is the Waqf Amendment Bill against the Muslims of the country Digvijay Singh: The Waqf Bill has gone to the Standing Committee or the Select Committee. Let the report come from the Select Committee, and then we will see. It would not be appropriate to say anything right now until the discussion in the Select Committee is over and the report comes. When the Bill comes for debate, it will be discussed.

What kind of Prime Minister do you think Narendra Modi is?

Digvijay Singh: Narendra Modi did not fulfil all the promises he made. He had promised to bring back black money, but where did it go? He had said that a lot of black money is deposited abroad, but instead of coming out from here, it went to Swiss banks. SIT was formed to bring back black money, but to date, no report has come about the revelations made in the Panama Papers. In demonetisation, he had promised that corruption would end, and inflation would reduce, but despite all these things, today inflation is increasing, unemployment is increasing and the savings of the public are decreasing. In this way, the promises he made have failed. Today the cash flow in the market has increased five times. The savings that families used to have, per capita have reduced. Apart from this, the way minorities are being treated is affecting the harmony of the country. Constitutional institutions are being weakened, which is weakening the condition of the country. The loans of the poor were not waived off, but the loans of big industrialists were waived. Rahul Gandhi was right when he said that this is a suit-boot government, it is indeed a suit-boot government. In the same session, the central government said in an answer that the loans of industrialists worth Rs 9.5 lakh crores have been waived off. This government works only for the benefit of big industrialists. Before committing suicide, the Parmar couple from the Sehore district of the state had alleged that they were being forced to join the BJP. How do you view this? Digvijay Singh: I have a copy of the suicide note left by Manoj Parmar. He sent this note to everyone, which also has his signature. In the note, he alleged that political pressure was being put on him and that if you do not join BJP, you will be put in jail. This is a serious allegation. I want this should be investigated immediately. I had requested Nirmala Sitharaman that this matter should be investigated and action should be taken against the concerned officials.