Discussion on the Amarnath yatra disaster is likely to continue today but opposition leaders averred that the Sukh Ram scandal too would figure in the next few days. For yesterday, the major opposition party, the BJP, could not afford to neglect its Hindu constituency.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the first hour of the day as a mark of respect to the dead and members angrily criticised the government thereafter. The issue came up as soon as question hour was over in the Lok Sabha and continued to be agitated over it until the lunch break. It was discussed again at 5 pm, when the house agreed to wait for home minister Indrajit Gupta's report from the spot today.
Agitated BJP members even refused to accept Prime Minister Deve Gowda's statement on the disaster in the Lok Sabha, saying the Prime Minister's claims of elaborate arrangements made it look as if the members had been shedding crocodile tears on the human tragedy which, according to the prime minister, has taken 121 lives.
Responding before lunch, Gowda assured the house that the government would not hesitate to take action against anyone who had not taken appropriate action at the appropriate time. The government did not want to suppress anything, he said. The house agreed to discuss the matter at 5 pm, when Gupta was to have returned, but he was not back in time.
We would rather wait for the home minister to return from Kashmir and give the house a first hand account, former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Atal Behari Vajpayee said. He rejected Gowda's proposal for a debate, saying that, only after hearing the Home Minister, the House should set the parameters for the debate.
Both the Congress and the BJP were vociferous in demanding a debate on the issue but the latter was more critical of the government, demanding a discussion under Rule 184 - and instrument to censure the government. The Congress which is supporting the government from outside, wanted the discussion under Rule 193, a milder rule without the provision for a division.
BJP leaders Vajpayee and Jaswant Singh made a scathing attack on the Home Minister, the Prime Minister, the Railway Minister, the J&K Governor and the State's Chief Secretary, for not being available on phone. The Prime Minister was in UP, the Home Minister in Calcutta, the Railway Minister was out of Delhi, and the J&K governor and chief secretary were camping in Delhi even after disaster had struck the Amarnath pilgrims, they said.
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Mother nature has challenged the administration and cought it completely unprepared, Vajpayee said. If this was the state of preparedness of the state administration and the Union government, what would happen if something more serious happens in the state, he asked.
Reading out a lengthy statement in defence of his government, Gowda said the state administration this year had pitched 3600 tents for an expected one lakh pilgrims. This, he said, was far better than the last year's 900 tents for 75,000 yatris and the year before's 750 tents for 40,000 yatris.
Twenty-five metric tonnes of rice and wheatflour, seven tonnes of sugar and eight tonnes of wheat bran were stocked at Sheshnag and Panjtarni and 39 free `langars' set up for pilgrims between Pahalgam and the Holy cave. 14,500 blankets were made available for those who might have needed them most.
The Prime Minister said handbills were distributed to all wishing to take up the yatra about the food, medicine and clothing requirements and only those who had passed a medical check and were carrying all that was needed for the yatra were registered.
Gowda maintained that the army and the state administration were doing their best and that they were not lacking in their duty.
An infuriated Sushma Swaraj of the BJP took the floor the moment the Prime Minister had completed his statement and charged him with lack of sensitivity to the human tragedy. If whatever the Prime Minister has said is true, then that would mean all the members who have raised the issue of failure of the Administration, of senior ministers and officials not being available, were lying, she said.