News Analysis India

Tag: Shanti Dhariwal

  • ‘It was slip of tongue, I apologise’: Rajasthan minister after remarks on women draw wide criticism

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: Amid an uproar by the Opposition MLAs over his remarks in the House, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal on Thursday tendered an apology saying it was “a slip of tongue”.

    The BJP, however, shouted slogans against him and demanded his resignation.

    “It was a slip of tongue. I feel sorry for that. I wanted to say something for the desert state. I personally respect women and will continue to do so. If my comments have hurt anyone, I apologise,” Dhariwal said.

    On Wednesday, he had made certain comments in his reply to the demand for grants to the police department, which Leader of the Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria said were “an insult to women, public and brave men”.

    They were later expunged.

    Though Speaker CP Joshi asked Kataria not to raise the matter during the Question Hour, the Opposition continued its uproar and demanded Dhariwal’s resignation.

    The Speaker said Dhariwal had visited his chamber and had confessed that his comment was unintentional.

    Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria raised the matter and several opposition protested against the minister’s remarks.

    During the uproar, minister Shanti Dhariwal tendered an apology for his remarks made during his reply to a debate on the grant for police department on Tuesday night, but the opposition continued to protest in the House.

    The minister’s remarks were expunged from the proceedings of the House.

    Despite repeated directions by the Speaker to maintain order in the House, the opposition continued to protest.

    RLP MLAs Pukhraj and Narayan Beniwal showed some papers during the protest, to which the Speaker raised objection saying no poster or banner or papers are allowed in the House.

    When his instruction was ignored, the Speaker directed marshals to evict both the MLAs from the House.

    Subsequently, the Speaker adjourned the House for one hour.

  • Rajasthan passes bill to register child marriages, minister says move does not mean wedlocks valid

    Express News Service

    JAIPUR: The registration of child marriages will now be allowed in Rajasthan, according to a bill passed by the state assembly on Friday. After a stormy debate, the House passed the Compulsory Registration of Marriages Amendment bill of Rajasthan.

    Under this new bill, information on child marriage must be furnished within 30 days of the wedding. In the debate, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal argued that registration of child marriages does not imply that they will be considered valid. 

    According to the new law, the marriage registration officer will do the registration up to the block level. The bill provides that if the girl’s age at the time of marriage is less than 18 years and the boy’s age is less than 21, then her parents will have to inform the registration officer within 30 days. 

    In case of child marriages, the parents of boys and girls will inform the registration officer by giving a memorandum in the prescribed format. Based on this, the registration officer will register that child marriage. This provision has been made in Section 8 of the Compulsory Registration of Marriages Act. Earlier, there were marriage registration officers at the district level but now provision has been made in the bill up to the block level.

    BJP MLAs staged a walkout from the House while questioning the need for registration and the purpose of the bill when child marriage would remain illegal. But the government claims that the bill has been brought on the basis of a Supreme Court order. The opposition raised questions on the need for the registration of child marriages and demanded the withdrawal of the bill.

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    Replying to the debate on the bill, Parliamentary Affairs Dhariwal said that the registration of child marriage does not mean giving validity and argued that registration of child marriages does not mean giving them legitimacy. Action will be taken against those who organise child marriages even after registering it. 

    Dhariwal asserted that the Supreme Court, in a 2006 judgment in Seema vs Ashwini Kumar case, had directed that registration of all types of marriages should be mandatory. He argued that Registration of child marriages is not meant to legitimize them and said that if a minor is married, then s/he will have the right to annul it as soon as s/he attains majority. 

    The opposition BJP however staged a walkout. The provision of registration of child marriage was opposed not only by BJP MLAs but also by pro-Congress Independent MLA Sanyam Lodha. Many BJP MLAs including Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria, Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathod said that registering child marriages is like validating them and is a clear violation of the Sharda Act, the law to prevent child marriage.

    Angry BJP MLAs then walked out of the House. Before the bill was passed, BJP demanded voting on it, but the chairman ignored it. The bill was passed by voice vote. 

    Social activists have opposed this controversial bill. Dr. Kriti Bharti, the managing director of Saarthi Trust in Jodhpur, who has got dozens of child marriages annulled in recent years, says the bill reflects ‘the double standards of state government. When all the countries are trying to eradicate child marriages, the Rajasthan government is virtually making an effort to promote them. This is just to please the Jati Panches which are the vote banks for the part.”

  • Rajasthan power fight turns ugly, ministers clash in public

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR: The Congress high command has sought a report after a fierce skirmish broke out between Rajasthan’s Urban Development minister Shanti Dhariwal and the state Congress president and Minister of State Education Govind Singh Dotasra. 

    According to sources, the skirmish is a result of the intense competition for the post of Deputy Chief Minister and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief, after Sachin Pilot was removed from these posts last year.   

    In a meeting of the Council of Ministers headed by CM Ashok Gehlot, Dotasra spoke about involving the ministers in-charge in submitting a memorandum to the President on June 4 regarding the demand for free vaccination on behalf of the Congress high command.

    Dhariwal protested this, saying why the minister in-charge would go to submit a memorandum to the collector. The dispute escalated to the extent that both leaders started verbally abusing each other. Dotasra warned that he would complain to the party National President Sonia Gandhi.

    It is being said in the political circles that the skirmish between Dhariwal and Dotasra is about status. Shanti Dhariwal is a senior minister in the government, and after the removal of Sachin Pilot as deputy CM, he is seen as number two to Gehlot.

    However, Govind Dostara has become powerful after assuming the chair of the PCC chief. Many government stalwarts, including Dhariwal, are unable to digest Dotasra’s rise. 

  • Rajasthan minister rejects phone tapping claims, says CM will resign if allegations proven right

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government informed the state assembly on Wednesday that it did not tap phones of any legislator during last year’s political crisis.

    Rejecting the BJP’s allegations on phone tapping, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal said the saffron party was making an issue in order to protect Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

    He said the chief minister would offer his resignation if these allegations were proved right.

    “Not only the chief minister, all of us will resign,” Dhariwal added.

    However, the BJP demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter and created a ruckus in the assembly which led to adjournment of the House twice.

    The controversy around phone tapping erupted in July last year during the political crisis that was caused due to the rebellion of former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and 18 other Congress MLAs against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s leadership.

    On the basis of three audio clips in which Shekhawat and Congress leaders could be heard talking about a conspiracy to topple Gehlot’s government, Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi had registered FIRs with the Special Operations Group (SOG) and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).

    Dhariwal said after the FIRs were registered, SOG officers had gone to the residence and office of the minister in Delhi to collect Shekhawat’s voice sample but failed to get the same.

    He said BJP leaders should tell Shekhawat that their party was facing embarrassment because of him and hence, he should take the voice test.

    On the allegations by the BJP that the voice clips were prepared and circulated by Lokesh Sharma, the OSD to the chief minister, Dhariwal said the audio clips were received on WhatsApp.

    He stressed that forwarding an audio clip on WhatsApp was not a crime.

    Dhariwal apprised the House that the SOG last year intercepted phones of two persons — Ashok Singh and Bharat Malani — with permission from the Home Department, after receiving information about illegal arms smuggling and movement of explosives.

    He said none of them was a politician but during the interception, conspiracy to depose the Gehlot government was exposed and that the SOG inspector lodged an FIR in the matter.

    The minister said the government did not order any MLA’s, MP’s or an elected representative’s phone-tapping.

    Dhariwal reminisced that during the 90s, when efforts were being made to topple Bhairon Singh Shekhawat-led BJP government in the state, it was Gehlot, who met then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao and then Rajasthan governor Baliram Bhagat to speak against it.

    Dhariwal concluded his reply by taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which invited a sharp reaction from the BJP members who stormed to the well of the House and created a ruckus in the assembly.

    Speaker CP Joshi concluded the debate and adjourned the House for half an hour.

    The House was adjourned for the second time for another 30 minutes.

    Prior to the minister’s reply, Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria asked if the phones were not tapped, then why was the FIR lodged.

    He said if the cases lodged were true, then the government should take action against the accused.

    When the House reassembled, the speaker said it was everyone’s responsibility to respect the president, vice president, prime minister, chief minister and other leaders in a parliamentary democracy.

    Saying that no such comment which may weaken the parliamentary democracy should be made, the speaker directed to expunge the comments of Dhariwal against the prime minister.

    Earlier in the day, the suspension of BJP MLA Madan Dilawar was revoked after the leader of opposition tendered an apology for his conduct.

    Dilawar was suspended for seven days for his “unruly behaviour” in the House on Tuesday.

  • Over Rs 1,500 crore spent on cow protection in three years: Rajasthan minister

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: Rajasthan Urban Development Minister Shanti Dhariwal on Friday said the state government has spent Rs 1,511.31 crore for the protection of cows in the past over three years.

    The funds collected from stamp duty and VAT payable on liquor sale has been spent on the protection of cows, he said.

    Replying to a supplementary question of BJP legislator Dharam Narayan Joshi during the question hour in the state Assembly, Dhariwal said as per the rules, funds are sanctioned whenever a demand is raised.

    He said during the previous government from 2015-2018, actual expenses against the funds collected were quite less.

    Dhariwal in his written reply to the legislator’s question told the House that the state government received Rs 1,242.56 crore from 2015-16 to 2020-21 through surcharge on stamp duty.

    The government received Rs 1,017.08 crore during 2018-19 to 2020-21 from VAT payable on the sale of liquor.

    This way, a total of Rs 2,259.64 crore was collected, he said.

    From the revenue collected through surcharge, Rs 1,500.46 crore was spent as assistance to cow shelters, Rs 3.44 crore for cow shelter development work, Rs 20 lakh for cow shelter biogas scheme, Rs 7.20 crore for the Nandishala scheme.

    This way, a total of Rs 1,511.31 was spent, he said.