The issue figured in the Question Hour on a starred question raised by Harimohan Sharma (Congress), who wanted to know the progress on the process of framing the rules of the Act and related aspects.
File Photo: ANI
The Rajasthan assembly on Thursday witnessed stormy scenes, slogan shouting and walkout as the opposition Congress members protested against dissatisfactory reply from Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar about the Right to Health Act.
The issue figured in the Question Hour on a starred question raised by Harimohan Sharma (Congress), who wanted to know the progress on the process of framing the rules of the Act and related aspects. The Act was legislated and promulgated at the fag end of the term of the previous Congress government in October 2023. Its rules could not be framed due to the imposition of the model code of conduct (MCC) ahead of the assembly elections.
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This turned out to be a bone of contention now between the Treasury and the Opposition benches, as the latter wanted to know the reason behind the delay in framing the rules and a clear-cut reply on the fate of the law.
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In reply, Minister Khimsar parried straight away and instead made a political comment, “The then government enacted the law just ahead of the polls to draw political mileage”.
Annoyed with the reply, already protesting, Congress members proceeded into the well, raising slogans.
Meanwhile, HM Khimsar added to say, “Then the Aayushman Bharat – Mukhyamantri Aayushman Aarogya Yojna (MAA-Yojna) is there to cater to all needs of medical care to suffering patients, then what is the need for the referred law?”
Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Tika Ram Jully put categorical questions about why rules could not be framed, whether the government wants this law (or not).
The Minister’s interrogative one-liner was “Why did Congress enact the government at the eleventh hour just ahead of the imposition of the model code of conduct?”
This, obviously, did not resolve the situation, and pandemonium in the House continued so intensely that Speaker Vasudev Devnani was forced to warn, “This is not good, I shall not allow this conduct, stop it, or I shall adjourn the House for the whole day. Neither this worked nor did the Speaker wait for a response from the protesters; he called for the next question on the list.
Unhappy over the inconclusive end to the arguments, the Congress members staged a walkout.
Later, former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra condemned the Health Minister for ‘negating the law itself,” saying there is no need for this Act.
In his post on the social media handle ‘X’, Gehlot wrote that we, under our previous regime, brought a number of good medical schemes like Universal Health Care, Chiranjivi Yojna, and Nirogi Rajasthan Yojna. Even then, there was a dire need for the Right to Health Act, so that patients and families would not suffer for want of money for medical treatment. He alleged that the BJP government is surrendering before the medical lobby and denying the need for the Act.
Rajasthan is the first state in the country to have legislated this law for more than two years.
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