Modi's words mean nothing, no promises fulfilled: Former Gujarat CM Shankersinh Vaghela
Ahmedabad, Nov 24: Former Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday, accusing him of fulfilling none of his election promises.
Vaghela, who addressed a gathering of supporters in Gandhinagar, also attacked Modi for "weakening" the institutions such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Reserve Bank.
Four-and-a-half years after Modi became prime minister by promising "Acche Din", creation of two crore jobs per year and Rs 15 lakh in everyone's bank account, none of the assurances have been fulfilled, Vaghela said.
"You deliver speeches, but your words have no meaning.
Give us results. If you cannot deliver results in four-and-a- half years, people of the country are going to say, come on, it's your turn now (to deliver). Who are you fooling?" he said.
The former BJP leader attacked the Central government for "seeking Rs 3.5 lakh crore from the RBI", and appointing "corrupt officials" to the CBI "to hide your sins and harm your opponents."
"Entire system is finished.This government has nothing to talk about after four-and-a half years," Vaghela, a former Gujarat chief minister, said.
Talking about the BJP government in the state, he said it is reeling under a debt of Rs 2.5 lakh crore.
It is announcing schemes worth thousands of crores but is not willing to waive loans of farmers, he said.
"In Gujarat, there were very few cases of farmer suicides (earlier). But in the last one month alone 10-12 farmers have ended their lives," he said.
He also criticised the government over a report that Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel was unable to rent a house in the state.
"Why should you hound a man if he is fighting for his community? Doesn't he have the right to live here?" Vaghela asked.
He also called for setting up a museum dedicated to the rulers of erstwhile princely states so that "the new generation remembers their contribution."
Vaghela had recently written an open letter to Modi making the demand.
Before addressing the gathering, Vaghela held a road-show. Among those who attended the gathering were representatives of erstwhile royal families who felicitated Vaghela for demanding a museum dedicated to former rulers.
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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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