New Delhi: On Tuesday, the opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha came together and attacked the incumbent government at the centre over National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in probing the Bihar liquor tragedy. The MPs from Janata Dal (United), Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Trinamool Congress, walked out from the House while raising the issue.
When in the Upper House, during the Zero Hour proceedings, Trinamool Congress member Dola Sen raised the issue of NHRC's action in connection with the Bihar liquor tragedy. "This is unfortunate that the NHRC did not go to Morbi of BJP-ruled Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, it only prefers to go to Bihar and West Bengal," Sen asserted.
Earlier in the day, RJD Rajya Sabha member Manoj Kumar Jha, gave a notice of Suspension of Business to discuss the issue of misuse of NHRC, mentioning, "NHRC is being used as a political tool in Bihar hooch tragedy issue. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state Gujarat faces hooch tragedy every third month but the NHRC never visited there."
He added, "NHRC neither visited to probe Morbi nor the killing of hundreds of people in Aligarh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana." In the notice to the Rajya Sabha Chairman, Jha attached this letter/notice from the NHRC to the officials of the Government of Bihar on account of the recent hooch tragedy in the Saran district of Bihar, which is reported to have claimed at least 70 lives so far. Stating that "...deaths on account of consumption of such illicit liquor disturb us all."
His notice made a scathing attack by mentioning "...such a brazenly partisan approach is eroding the credibility of NHRC" and that it was also "...encroaching upon issues which are fundamentally a state subject."
Invoking Rule 29 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States, Jha said that the House must have a broader discussion on the grossly partisan role of organisations like NHRC which undermines the neatly delineated constitutional scheme of things.
Meanwhile, BJP MP and a prominent face from Bihar, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) MP Chirag Paswan supported the NHRC's move of probing the hooch tragedy. Prasad said the NHRC team should visit the state while Paswan demanded that President's Rule be imposed in Bihar and the Central Bureau of Investigation probe the matter.
An official communication by the panel mentioned, "The Commission would like to know about the relief and rehabilitation given by the state government as well as the measures taken or proposed to be taken to dismantle clandestine hooch manufacturing hotspots across the state to completely eradicate this social menace, intermittently happening in the state of Bihar."