The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has started an online signature campaign asking parliamentarians to end the continuing logjam in the parliament. The initiative has been supported by 15,000 people including top industrialists.
The petitioners urge "all political parties to have a collaborative and consultative process in the Parliament and allow the Parliament to function, to debate and legislate," the petition on Change.org reads.
However, the CII's move to start an online signature campaign over disruptions in parliament's monsoon session did not go down well with the Congress. Party leader Manish Tewari lashed out at the industrialists in a series of tweets on Wednesday, saying that they want "parliament to bow to their ditkats".
Comical where was corporate India's concern&concierge when BJP wiped out session after session for 10 years? Rockefeller moment souring1/2
— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) August 12, 2015
2/2& ROPI (Return on Political Investment) floundering now they want Parliament to bow to their ditkats Will it be parliament of corporates? — Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) August 12, 2015
The monsoon session of parliament started on a stormy note on 21 July as the opposition demanded resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje over the Lalit Modi row. They also demanded the sacking of Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the Vyapam scam.
Following that, parliament could not function smoothly and the progress in terms of passage of bills, including the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill and Land Bill, has been rather rocky due to continuous protests by the Congress. The Congress boycotted the monsoon session for a week and when it returned, it continued protesting.
The CII has urged the political parties to let the parliament function as "Parliamentary paralysis can lead to weakening of India's democracy." It further said the disruption of parliament session can never be of any good for the nation.
"Perpetual disruption can never be the rule. Street demonstrations against the Chair of the Lower House are of unprecedented scale," the petition read.
It requested parliamentarians to support the GST Bill, which the confederation supports, and allow it to pass for the betterment of the nation.
"Important laws like the Constitution amendments in Goods and Services Tax which improves India's growth rate is held up. GST has taken a long time in coming and has taken years of consensus building, and CII has time and again reiterated that this could significantly contribute to India's and States' growth. India has to grow in order to alleviate poverty and create jobs," the petition read.
The petition has been signed by top industrialists, including CII president Sumit Mazumder, Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, chairman of Bajaj Auto Limited Rahul Bajaj, Adi Godrej of the Godrej Group, Tata Power Company Ltd's CEO Anil Sardana, chairman and co-founder of NIIT Group Rajendra S Pawar and several others.
The monsoon session of parliament will end on 13 August.
The Modi-led government moved the GST Bill in Rajya Sabha amid protest by the Congress on Tuesday. However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley believes that the ruling party will be successful in getting the consensus of all political parties, except Congress.
