NDA govt is violating parliamentary norms: Yechury

"The main issue is how Parliament is being subverted and how Rajya Sabha is being subverted through the misuse of the money bill provision...," Yechury said.

Hyderabad, April 1: Alleging that the NDA government was violating the parliamentary norms while passing laws, the CPI(M) today said it would hold a massive protest outside the Parliament during the next session.

"We are going to organise a big people's protest outside the Parliament in the next session against the manner in which they are passing all these laws, violating the parliamentary norms," CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said here. CPI(M) would talk to other Left and "secular parties" to try and organise a joint protest "in defence of democracy", he said.

"The main issue is how Parliament is being subverted and how Rajya Sabha is being subverted through the misuse of the money bill provision...," Yechury said. The government was introducing measures which would have dangerous consequences, he said. He cited changes in the Companies Act and enhanced powers of the Income Tax officers as an example.

"The changes that have been done in the Companies Act...now facilitate political corruption of the highest order. These are the things, they should not be money bills. They must be the issues that need to be discussed. But they are bringing such things which have very, very dangerous consequences. They now amended the law to give power to an Income Tax officer to go and raid anybody's house, any company under the pretext that he has reasons to believe (that such action is necessary)," Yechury said.

Such measures cannot be legislated without scrutiny and evaluation by both Houses of Parliament, he said.

PTI