‘BJP Is Not Taking the Parliament Seriously’: TMC’s Derek O’Brien

Derek O’Brien called BJP introducing key legislation as a money bill a “dangerous trend”.

Derek O’Brien, Trinamool Congress MP and India’s most popular quizmaster, made his political book debut with Inside Parliament.

(Photo: The Quint)

Derek O’Brien, Trinamool Congress MP and India's most popular quizmaster, has authored around 52 books.

However, with his latest book, Inside Parliament, he makes his political book debut, taking on the policies and practices of the Central government, the contemporary issues plaguing India, and the way forward for both India and his party through 50 essays.

Terming the Parliament as a "university", he said:

Everyday you walk in there, you learn something new, you learn about the rules, how business is conducted, and more than all of this, you listen to different views on a particular subject. Sitting on the first row of Rajya Sabha, I sometimes feel like a teenager given the experience of other members like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and Arun Jaitley.

In his book, O'Brien has expressed concern about those who "undermine" the Rajya Sabha, and called those forcing the government to rethink its powers "dishonest". Elaborating, he said:

I was disappointed that Arun Jaitley, a Parliamentarian that I look up to, called the Rajya Sabha “irrelevant”. That was petty politics. He himself comes from the Rajya Sabha, after losing the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. It is because of Rajya Sabha that an Indian has not lost a good Parliamentarian.

He called BJP introducing key legislations as money bills a "dangerous trend".

“The BJP is breaking down institutions, and one such institution they are not taking seriously is the Parliament.”

In a chapter, O'Brien takes a light-hearted dig at the Finance Minister by saying that "he should wear a football jersey" with Article 110 written on it, in reference to the money bill being introduced.

He was also of the opinion that the BJP government at the Centre should be “judged” on the basis of the acronym ‘JUDGE’ – which according to him stands for: J - joblessness U- underperformance D- demonetisation, G- GST, and E-economy and its state.

O'Brien also took a dig at the BJP for pushing the winter session of the Parliament, knowing that it has been delayed because the "BJP cannot answer tough questions".

Video Editor: Ashutosh Bhardwaj