New
Delhi, Dec 5: The Manmohan Singh-led government saved itself some
possible embarrassment Wednesday when it comfortably won the vote in the
Lok Sabha on foreign investment in multi-brand retail that is seen as
important step in its reform process. It also won another motion on
amendments to the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to facilitate
its initiative.
Both the motions had been moved by the
opposition. The first, main, motion on the government's decision to
allow 51 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail
that would allow global supermarket chains to set up shop in India was
moved by the BJP and the CPI-M. The second one opposing amendments to
FEMA was moved by the Trinamool Congress.
With the rival
Uttar Pradesh parties, Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party
(BSP), which prop the ruling UPA from outside, strategically walking out
of the house before the vote, the government sailed through the
challenges.
The halfway mark needed to win the votes was
reduced with the SP's 22 MPs and the BSP's 21 abstaining. Propelled by
the unlikely Mulayam Singh Yadav-Mayawati combination, the government
won the FDI motion with a 35 vote margin 218 votes for the opposition
motion, 253 against in a house with 471 members.
The FEMA motion was won by 30 votes in a house with 478 members, the opposition got 224 votes and the government 254.
"We
are very happy. We have the support of the house," said a beaming
Communications Minister Kapil Sibal while lauding the country's "vibrant
democracy".
A defeated Bharatiya Janata Party leader
Sushma Swaraj slammed Mulayam Singh for walking out of the house and
condemned the UPA's "arrogance of power".
The SP, which
had said earlier in the morning that it was against FDI but would not do
anything to "trouble the government", said the move was "anti-farmer".
"Five
crore (50 million) people in retail trade will be destroyed. This
decision has ignored the interests of 20 crore (200 million) farmers and
their families. The decision on FDI was taken under pressure of foreign
companies. This is the reason the party boycotted it," Mulayam Singh
said.
"This is not about helping or harming the
government. The whole party and MPs had decided to stage a walkout. This
was decided by the party and the SP will continue to oppose every wrong
decision of the government," he said
The decision to
allow FDI in multi-brand retail is expected to open the doors for major
global names such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco.
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