The Union finance minister, Jaswant Sinha, tagging on to the coat-tails of Congress support, introduced the Patents Bill but in the same breath, in the face of mounting opposition, said that ``while in the Opposition, many things can be said, but while in Government, you cannot afford to be conservative in the larger interests of the country.’’

Parliament has its own records for posterity; it would be worthwhile to see how the finance minister fares in the face of public wrath once the effects of these Bills can be seen and felt by the country.

Leader after leader of the Left block led by Rupchand Murmu, Anil Bose, Ajoy Mukherjee and Gita Mukehrjee gave vent to their anger in Parliament while the Bill was being introduced saying that while on the face of it, it appeared that this was an Amendment Bill, the real intention was to bring radically dangerous changes in the insurance sector as a whole. The Bill, which faced stiff opposition, has now been sent to the select standing committee of Parliament on the suggestion of the Congress.

It was a repeat performance on Thursday with the Left taking a principled stand against the introduction of the Patents Bill and saying that the it was ``unprincipled and constitutionally untenable.’’ Dr Ashoke Mitra of the CPI(M) demolished the Bill clause by clause and perhaps deep inside, even those in the Treasury benches could not help but do some introspection about the validity of the Bill.

Strangely, even as CPI(M) MP Biplab Dasgupta led a blistering attack on the Bill after it was introduced by the industries minister Sikander Bakht, it was not anybody from the Government side but Congress member Pranab Mukherjee who stood to defend it. It is now getting increasingly obvious that the BJP is riding piggyback on the Congress to have these two Bills passed.

In the meantime, the fate of the Womens Bill hangs in balance with the BJP now giving in to pressure from its ally, the AIADMK, and some of its own members who have demanded that an amendment be brought in to include Other Backward Classes (OBCs) within the ambit of the reservations. Yet again, the Left block has maintained that the Bill should be passed in this session itself but strangely, though not quite deviating from its nature, the BJP government is trying to soft-pedal the passage of the Bill. The fissures within the BJP have come to the fore and important members like Uma Bharati have openly criticised portions of the Bill which has made the Government take a step backwards. But as in the case of the Insurance and Patents Bills, the Left has taken a prinicipled attitude and said that it would continue to raise its voice in Parliament and take a pro-people stand. The RJD and the Samajwadi Party had also opposed the Bill right from the initial days but the BJP has now played true to its nature by giving in to the pressure of the AIADMK and its own MPs on the OBC issue.