Amit Shah isn't God, his prediction of BJP ruling for 50 years an exaggeration: MNF
Aizawl, Dec 6: Mizo National Front, a constituent of the BJP-led NEDA, dismissed saffron party chief Amit Shah's remarks that the party will rule India for the next 50 years if it wins the 2019 general elections, saying he is not a God and the prediction is an exaggeration.
The principal opposition party in Mizoram is, however, confident that the Congress or the UPA will not come to power at the Centre in the next year's general elections.
Former chief minister and MNF chief Zoramthanga told PTI in an interview that his party and the BJP can never be allies in the hill state because of the saffron party's Hindutva politics.
"I doubt. He (Shah) is not a God. He cannot predict that in politics. Even Modi cannot predict that. That is his wishful thinking. Nobody can predict that," he said, when asked about Shah's claim of BJP ruling for the next 50 years.
The Congress is not coming to power again in 2019 at the Centre and nobody can predict how many decades it will take to form the next government, the veteran politician from the north-east said.
"For decades, he (Shah) may predict that Congress will not come to power. But to predict for 50 years or 100 years, it is rather an exaggeration," Zoramthanga said.
In September, Shah had said at the BJP's National Executive meet that the party will win the 2019 elections because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hard work and then no one can dethrone it for the next 50 years.
Talking about the relations between the MNF and the BJP, the two-time chief minister said he was completely against the BJP as far as the ideology and other things are concerned.
"Because we are Christians. They want to promote the Hindutva. We cannot be together as far as these things are concerned. We have a different ideology.
"But as far as the country is concerned, the NDA is better than the UPA and that is why we joined them at the Centre. But ideologically, the MNF and the BJP are poles apart. The BJP knows it very well," he said.
In the recently held Assembly elections in Mizoram, the MNF contested alone against the ruling Congress and the BJP. Both the Congress and the MNF contested in all the 40 constituencies, while the BJP fought in 39 seats.
The Congress has been in power in Mizoram since 2008 and is eyeing a third consecutive term. In the 2013 elections, the Congress had won 34 seats, while the MNF got five and Mizoram People's Conference one.
Mizoram went to polls on November 28 and counting of votes will be taken up on December 11.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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