The Lok Sabha on Thursday witnessed a passionate intervention by Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan to protect individual liberties and the “right to love” in Uttar Pradesh, where the newly-elected BJP government has allowed ‘Anti-Romeo Squads’, ostensibly to impose order and decency in public spaces. Ranjan also raised the issue of shutting down of abattoirs, labelling it as a move to alienate and isolate specific communities.
The MP’s intervention elicited a response from Home Minister Rajnath Singh who maintained that the BJP does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed or religion.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Ranjan wondered whether the brute majority that the BJP has gained in UP allows it to violate constitutionally guaranteed rights and ignore democracy.
Quoting Irish statesman Edmund Burke, the MP said: “On Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s death anniversary, I am reminded of the quotation that all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. The issue is not about Uttar Pradesh alone but is related to that State. Parliament is the biggest panchayat, it has to ensure (check) whether the Constitution is being violated. It has to address the question of whether gaining majority in a legislature allows the ruling party to mock democracy, to denigrate the rights of common people – of young men and women. Whether a majority government can impose its will in violation of the Constitution. That is my question.”
Taking a swipe at the ‘Anti-Romeo’ squads, the MP from Supaul, Bihar, sought to know whether the government had assumed the right to decide whether young people should sit together in parks, to have relationships, to love each other.
“I am not advocating vulgarity. But which law gives a government the right to punish young people who are only sitting together? With what authority are you criminalising an innocent act, even a brother walking his sister home is now suspicious activity? Is it wrong to love in India? Is it wrong for a girl to have a boyfriend and for a boy to have a girlfriend? Would the government now decide how they should behave, which park they should roam around in? What is happening?” the MP wanted to know.
She said in the name of closing abattoirs, the rights of a certain community were being trampled on. “The way hatred is being spawned against certain communities, against young people, is against the Constitution, against freedom, against democracy,” she said.
In response, the Home Minister, who was once Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, said: “The BJP does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed or religion.”
Stating that it is only a few days since the BJP government has come to power in the State, he said the government would look into specific incidents, if any.
Singh also said UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that he would abide by the BJP’s slogan of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’.