THE PRIME MINISTER (SHRI CHANDRA SHEKHAR) : Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I listened the whole debate with great anguish. Any Indian will feel ashamed or whatever happened during last few days. I do not want to blame anybody. As the leader of this House and as the Prime Minister of India, I take the whole responsibility upon myself. I admit, if a single Indian dies it is a matter of shame for us. Mr. Deputy Speaker, I would like to tell those friends quite humbly that the whole malady has not

THE PRIME MINISTER (SHRI CHANDRA SHEKHAR) : Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, discussion on this topic is going on since today afternoon. I seek apology of the House for not being present here. I understand the feelings of this House, but the situation is such that where on one hand, atrocities are being committed on the harijans, on the other hand, humanity is at stake in the Gulf. I had to go to the Rajya Sabha, where a discussion on the Gulf was going on. Recently, when this issue was raised by

SHRI CHANDRA SHEKHAR (BALLIA, U.P) : Mr. Speaker, Sir, there is a long story of nationalisation of these banks. All India Congress Committee had passed a resolution in 1968 for which a campaign was launched in the Congress. 100 members of this House had given a memorandum to the then Speaker of this House Shri Kamraj ji and a copy of it was sent to Smt. Indira Gandhi also. Prior to that, I had asked some Professors of various universities to study this subject and had brought out a booklet

SHRI CHANDRA SHEKHAR (Ballia, U.P.): Mr. Speaker, Sir, this question has been raised in the House many a time. Everyday newspapers report killings in Assam. It appears that Assam Government is totally incapable of tackling the situation. It is a matter of regret that even after raising of the issue many times in the House, no initiative has been taken by the Central Government to improve the situation in the State. I admit that the issue is the responsibility of the State Government but it

SHRI CHANDRA SHEKHAR : Many hon. Members have expressed their views on Kashmir issue. With regard to the Bill that has been brought by the hon. Finance Minister and the approval sought by him for the budget, I would say that Government would have to be given some powers to deal with the situation that exist in Kashmir at present. The provision that has been made in the Bill is to facilitate enquiry in case the people have any difficulty or complaint. I would like to mention two-three point

SHRI CHANDRA SHEKHAR (Ballia, U.P.) : Mr. Speaker, Sir, I do not want to indulge in this controversy, the language which is being used here. I will request you, (Expunged as ordered by the Chair). Is all these keep on going in the House, how can we run on the debate? The newspaper reporters write Jag Mohan is such a person, so on and so forth. But I want to say that we have nothing to do with Jag Mohan. Shri Jag Mohan is discharging his duties. Khurana Sahib will feel happy at the thing th

SHRI CHANDRA SHEKHAR (Ballia, U.P.) : Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I feel obliged that I have been given an opportunity to speak. Yesterday, I had decided not to speak on this subject, but I have been inspired by Mamataji’s speech and I feel that if I do not express my views on this subject I may be taken otherwise. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would first of all like to tell Mamataji that had she advised the Prime Minister the very first day this dispute would not have arisen and he would ha

SHRI CHANDRA SHEKHAR : Sir, I am not asking any question. But the answer of the hon. Minister is very disturbing. He says that after 1993, there is no statistics available, to know whether the number of people below poverty line has increased or decreased. If that was the case, then, on what basis, has the Government been making claims ? In spite of the reports from the foreign institutions and also the national institutions, which say that the number of people below poverty line has incr

SHRI CHANDRA SHEKHAR (Ballia, U.P.) : Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I do not want to deliver any speech. But it is with a very heavy heart that I rise to speak. Some 10-20 Members from the Opposition insisted me to say something on Godhra incident. I had prepared a resolution of four lines and had shown it to the then hon. Speaker, Shri Balayogiji. You were also present at that time. I was of the opinion that all the people should collectively condemn the Godhra incident and appear the country

SHRI CHANDRA SHEKHAR (Ballia, UP) : Mr. Chairman, Sir, I rise to commiserate with the Government, especially with the Minister of External Affairs. I have no complaints against them. My only complaint is that the hon’ble Prime Minister failed in presenting his viewpoint explicitly though I do not advocate the manner and language in which the Pakistani General put up his viewpoint. We were told time and again that what is happening in Kashmir is the struggle for freedom. I do not underst