A social media post claiming Venkaiah Naidu, Vice Chairman of Rajya Sabha cried in the wake of the forceful passage of a bill in the parliament, immediately after the passage of the OBC bill, that is aimed at selling off the LIC. The post also shares an image of Venkaiah Naidu crying. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Venkaiah Naidu, Vice Chairman of Rajya Sabha cried in the Parliament after forceful passage of a bill aimed at selling off the LIC.
Fact: On 12 August 2021, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu while addressing a session broke down into tears expressing his anguish over the protest created by the opposition MPs the previous day. His breakdown has nothing to do with government selling its stake in LIC, which was done through the Finance Act, 2021 earlier in March. Whereas on 12 August 2021 Rajya Sabha passed “The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021“, which allows private participation in the public sector insurance companies and this bill has nothing to do with LIC. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
According to news reports (here & here) on 11 August 2021, during the monsoon session of the Parliament in Rajya Sabha, opposition MPs expressed their protest against the farm laws by climbing tables, throwing off books & files. It is in this light Vice President Venkaiah Naidu while addressing a session the next day broke down into tears expressing his anguish over the protest by the opposition MPs.
The Union government did not pass any bill in this monsoon session of the Parliament which entails selling off the LIC. However, earlier in March 2021 during the budget session, the Union government through the Finance act, 2021 amended the ‘Life Insurance Corporation act, 1956 which provides for the dilution of government stake in LIC by allowing Initial Public Offer (IPO).
On 11 August 2021, the Rajya Sabha passed “The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021“, which allows private participation in the public sector insurance companies. However, the opposition protested against the passing of this bill and demanded that the bill should be referred to a select committee.
This bill amended the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, 1972 which established the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) with National Insurance, New India Assurance, Oriental Insurance, and United India Insurance as its subsidiaries. It is noteworthy to mention that these are the only public sector insurers created with this bill and LIC is not a part of this.
In all likelihood, the passage of this General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021 could have been misconstrued as the passage of a bill that aims at privatising the LIC.
To sum it up, Venkaiah Naidu did not break down because of the forceful passage of the bill aimed at selling off the LIC.
