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“Today is April 2, a historic day,” Raja Ram Singh noted as he rose to weigh in on the Modi government’s Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. “America’s tariffs will be announced today. But this is a historic day also because instead of holding a discussion on the tariffs, we are discussing the two bills presented by the honourable minister.”
In his four-minute speech, the first-time MP from Bihar went on to liken the present-day United States to the East India Company for “threatening” developing countries with tariffs. Instead of strongly pushing back against American tariffs announced against India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation MP contended that the BJP is practising the “politics of polarisation” to divert the agenda by discussing Islamic endowments known as waqfs.
The Lok Sabha discussion on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and Mussalman Wakf (Repeal) Bill, 2024, began at noon on Wednesday and lasted for nearly 14 hours. While Parliament’s lower house was voting on the proposed changes to laws governing the management of waqfs, US President Donald Trump announced a 27% tariff on American imports from India.
On Thursday, Trump’s announcement provoked sharp reactions from prominent opposition MPs inside and outside the parliament. Amidst the din that ensued, Raja Ram Singh’s observation was lost to the annals of Lok Sabha proceedings.
‘Divert public attention’
Scroll visited the veteran communist, who claims to have contested 18 state and national elections, at his party’s New Delhi office to ask him why he said what he did before anyone else. But the CPI(ML) leader had other worries.
Ten months into tenure, Singh is yet to move into his official residence because its previous occupant has still not vacated it. He currently operates out of the house allotted to his colleague Sudama Prasad, the only other MP from the CPI(ML) Liberation. The party has turned the small bungalow into its parliamentary office and it is almost always teeming with student-activists.
Asked about the manner in which the government passed the waqf bills in both houses on the last three days of the budget session, Singh said: “There was no particular need for the rush. If there was something that needed to be discussed urgently, it was the tariffs.”
The government’s timing, he argued, was intended to divert public attention and save itself from tariff-related blowback. “The BJP must have conceded a lot to the Americans behind the scenes,” he speculated. “But it does not consider it important to place all that information before the country.”
While he said that his speech had earned him the praise of his fellow opposition MPs, Singh said it was part of his job. “Look, this is what ‘representative’ means,” he said.
He added: “People’s pain, their questions and their problems should concern the country. I have to be their voice. I am not doing anything out of the ordinary.”
Hindutva chink
In his speech, Singh had said that Hindutva supporters had failed to participate in India’s anti-colonial struggle, a “mistake” Hindutva leaders were repeating by not standing up to “American imperialism” today.
He traced this criticism back to someone else he met recently. “A farmer leader I met said this, not me,” Singh said. “When the Immigration and Foreigners Bill was brought in, I delivered a speech about America’s treatment of our migrant workers. One farmer leader suggested that I should have said one more thing: those who missed out on participating in the anti-imperialism movement in the past have an opportunity to stand up this time.”
The 67-year-old complained about the country’s mainstream media, which scarcely ever turns the spotlight on opposition politicians like him. He complained that the government-run Sansad TV’s highlights package from Wednesday’s proceedings excluded him as well.
Singh recalled that in the 2024 general elections, the press largely wrote him off and focussed on his opponent, the Bhojpuri singer Pawan Singh, who had rebelled against the BJP to contest as an independent candidate.
Singh ended the interview with an Urdu couplet by 20th-century revolutionary freedom fighter and fellow communist Bhagat Singh to explain how ideas, including the ones he comes up with, have a life of their own:
“Hawaa mein rahegi mere khayaalon ki bijlee,
Ye musht-e-khaaq hai faani, rahe naa rahe.”
The thunder in my thoughts will stay in the skies,
Whether or not this transient body remains.
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