Hours after the heated debated, the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament, on Wednesday passed the Unlawful Activites (Prevention) Amendment Bill 2019. Seeking a passage for the bill, Union Home Minister Amit Shah assured the house that his government will never misuse the law.
Speaking in the house during the discussion, Amit Shah said there is a need to bring in the tough laws to end corruption. ‘There is a need for a provision to declare an individual as a terrorist, UN has a procedure for it, US has it, Pakistan has it, China has it, Israel has it, European Union has it, everyone has done it’, he added while talking about the need to bring in the amendment in the bill.
Home Min Amit Shah in LS on Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act Bill: There's a need for a provision to declare an individual as a terrorist, UN has a procedure for it, US has it, Pakistan has it, China has it, Israel has it, European Union has it, everyone has done it pic.twitter.com/lJMSbFe6L5
— ANI (@ANI) July 24, 2019
Raising the questions on Congress stand, Amit Shah said the UAPA Bill was brought up by Congress in 1967 and it brings amendments into in the year 2004, 2008 and 2013. During all these years, Congress was in the power’, Shah said while raising a question about who made the law stringent.
Shah further added that ‘What you (Congress) did was right, what we are doing is also right’.
‘When you question us you don’t see who brought the law & amendments, who made it stringent. It was brought when you were in power, what you did then was right & what I’m doing now is also right’, said Shah speaking in the House.
Home Minister Amit Shah in LS on Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act Bill: When you question us you don't see who brought the law & amendments, who made it stringent. It was brought when you were in power, what you did then was right & what I'm doing now is also right. pic.twitter.com/1z8GKtOme2
— ANI (@ANI) July 24, 2019
Shah further said that his government was against ‘Urban Maoist’. ‘In this country, a lot of people involved in social work are working respectably, the police is not fond of catching them, but we don’t have any sympathy for those who work for Urban Maoism’, Shah said.
During the discussion, Congress MPs walked out of Lok Sabha demanding to send Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act Bill to a Standing Committee.
Speaking in the house, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi slammed the previous Congress and accused them of appeasing the Muslims when not in power. ‘I blame Congress party for this. They’re the main culprits for bringing this law. When they’re in power they’re bigger than BJP, when they lose power they become big brother of Muslims’, Asaduddin Owaisi said while speaking in the house.
Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM MP in Lok Sabha on Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act Bill: I blame Congress party for this. They're the main culprits for bringing this law. When they're in power they're bigger than BJP, when they lose power they become big brother of Muslims pic.twitter.com/5q2Ept9miu
— ANI (@ANI) July 24, 2019
While Trinamool Congress firebrand MP Mahua Moitra also slammed the Centre and accused it of running propaganda for targetting the opposition parties.
Speaking in the discussion on the UAPA Amendment Bill, Moitra said, “If the Centre wants to target someone, they will get them somehow with the help of some law. Opposition leaders, minorities, right activists and others if they disagree with the homogenous idea of India that this government is trying to thrust upon, Opposition runs the risk of being labeled as anti-national.”, she added while speaking in the Lok Sabha.
Earlier on July 15, Lok Sabha passed National Investigation Agency Amendment Bill, 2019; broadens Investigation Powers of NIA.
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