Debate on the 2013 Constitution Amendment Bill is heating up as points of order have been raised after Opposition MP Virendra Lal said the 2013 Constitution grants people of any religion or race the right to worship in any manner they want and people may remember that during the 1987 coup, there were restrictions on people from doing this.
Lal highlighted this while speaking in Hindi where he says it is only the 2013 Constitution that has given people equal citizenry and the right to be called a ‘Fijian’.
While raising a point of order, Minister for Women, Sashi Kiran says this is trying to put fear in people that they will lose the opportunity to worship in their faith, and lose the secular State.
She says that is not acceptable.
Deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad also raised a point of order, stating it is out of order for a Member of Parliament to use words that are likely to promote feeling of ill-will and hostility between communities.
Professor Prasad says even the 1997 Constitution Bill of Rights had secularism but it was Virendra Lal’s leader who threw out that constitution.
He says here is a member trying to speak in Hindi, saying that somehow people in this country, people of Indian origin and of other faiths are going to lose their rights to practice.
Professor Prasad says ‘shame on him’ and this is what they do.
Speaker Filimoni Jitoko says he is at a complete disadvantage as he cannot understand what was being said and his ruling will await the transcription of the record.
He says he cannot take the translation as what Professor Prasad has said as that is hearsay.
While continuing to speak in Hindi, Lal says it is not clear what the amendments are going to be.
He says the 2013 Constitution gives everyone equal rights and no one is discriminated against.
