CHENNAI, Mar 25 (UNI): The BJP today criticised the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre for hastily passing the Patent bill, and accused the left parties, especially the CPI(M), of betraying the people's interests in allowing its passage after opposing it initially.
Talking to newspersons here, former BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu said that the Congress-led UPA government's "anti-people' nature became evident in the manner in which it passed the bill in Parliament with the collusion of the left parties, without referring it to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for discussions.
The passage of the bill showed that the left support could be extracted by providing minor concessions, he said.
He said the new Patent regime would put spokes in the national goal of "Health for all" as it would jack up the prices of generic and life-saving drugs by ten to 20 times, besides affecting the interests of the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry.
Taking a dig at the left parties, he said the Marxist party had let down the countrymen badly on the patent issue.
"After having opposed the bill all along and shouting from the roof top, the Communist parties had made a sudden volte-face and ensured passage of the bill by entering into a "deal" with the Congress." Naidu said there were about 30 to 40 grey areas in the bill and had the CPI(M) adopted a tough stand, the Congress would have conceded the BJP's demand of referring it to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
Demanding an explanation from the Communist parties for reneging on the patents bill issue, Naidu disagreed with the left parties' view that the government would collapse if it did not support the passage of the bill.
"How will the stability of the government be affected if they (left parties) oppose the bill.
The BJP would have definitely supported the bill because it was the previous NDA government which had tabled it in Parliament in November 2003", he said.
But the Communists had compromised on a matter of national and public interest for political considerations, Naidu alleged.
The Congress-led government had hastily passed the bill without heeding to the BJP's suggestion to refer it to the Standing Committee to ensure that concerns expressed by various sections of the people, including WHO, Pharma Industry and NGOs, were addressed properly.
Since the Patents Ordinance would lapse on April eight and the Parliament would meet again on April 18, the Centre could have referred it to the Standing Committee and waited for its recommendations and the bill could have passed with restrospective effect from April one, he said.
"But the government has shown undue haste in this regard", he charged.
Naidu claimed that the new bill would limit the scope for producing affordable versions of life-saving medicines.
The African countries, which were heavily dependent on India for supply of cheap, generic drugs for ailments like AIDS, were concerned about this, he said.
The bill had also diluted the provisions of the pre-grant opposition of Patents, he added.
