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KUMARI SUSHMITA DEV (SILCHAR): Thank you, Chairman, Sir, for the opportunity.
Today, I rise to speak on a very important Bill. The reason I call it important is because this Bill does not just have some Parliamentary and legislative history, but it is deeply connected to our political history. When, last night, I was preparing my speech and going through the legislation that preceded this Ordinance and the Bill that we are debating today, I realized that there were several opinions.
My learned senior colleague, Yogi Adiyanath ji, said in the House today that there were different views within our Party and within the Bharatiya Janata Party and many other Parties that were in the Parliament in the past. In this circumstance, I fail to understand what could be the urgency in passing an Ordinance in the month of January 2016 when the Parliament was not in Session. I fail to understand that when the history of this Bill clearly says that there are various views / interpretations and there is a Supreme Court judgement of 2005, which is actually the bone of contention or which is actually the main reason why the previous legislations were passed in 2010 and today. Why did we circumvent an important instrument of democracy, which we all take pride in because we all have a voice; we all debate in it; and then that voice reaches the House inside the Parliament by way of a Standing Committee deliberation.

          By passing the law as it is, we the Parliament will unwittingly be writing on the hands of the enemies’ children mera baap desh ka dushman hai. So, definitely the law has to be changed, at least the drafting. It is not our intention. It was done by somebody in the legal fraternity by mistake. We merely want their properties. That is one thing.

          Then, I do not want to enter into the dangerous territory which is the concept of ‘sedition’. The concept of ‘sedition’ is not there in our country. I am afraid this law is not only for the past but also for the future. So, I wish the word ‘enemy’ is removed. Kumari Sushmita Dev has suggested that the word ‘enemy’ be removed and let some other terminology be used. They have also defined enemy countries in respect of China and Pakistan. Actually, in our State Telangana we are trying to invite the Chinese and giving them land to set up factories. So, I think some of these antiquated ideologies and concepts have to be removed in the wordings.  So, we need to redraft this.