Leaders of 13 opposition parties who met Monday agreed that Parliament should function and blamed the BJP for repeated disruptions.
New Delhi: The monsoon session of Parliament which begins Wednesday is set to be the first test of opposition unity against the ruling BJP as the government tries to push through contentious legislation such as the triple talaq bill, National Commission for Backward Classes bill, among others.
The leaders of 13 opposition parties met Monday evening to devise a strategy on these issues. The meeting, called by the Congress’ Ghulam Nabi Azad, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, was attended by leaders of major opposition parties including the TMC, RJD, BSP, SP, NCP among others. The TDP, which has been preparing for moving a no-confidence motion, was not a part of it.
There was a wider agreement among the opposition parties Monday that Parliament should function. But the parties stuck to their earlier stance that it was the government that was disrupting proceedings in the House.
“We always wanted the sessions to function and we were ready to discuss issues of public concern in the last session,” said Azad after the meeting. “In the last session, however, it was an NDA partner that disrupted the House.”
The opposition leaders will attend another meeting Tuesday morning that has been called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar. “We will raise these issues in the meeting tomorrow. There are issues of farmers, mob lynching, unemployment and women security, which all demand immediate attention. The House should take up the issues.” Azad said.
The last budget session was the least productive in the past 18 years. According to PRS data, on average Lok Sabha worked for 21 per cent of its scheduled time, while Rajya Sabha functioned for 27 per cent of its scheduled time during the budget session.
There are apprehensions that the monsoon session — the last before crucial assembly polls in three states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh later this year — could also see regular disruptions and fall prey to partisan politics.
There are already signs of differences over key legislation between the BJP and the opposition that could worsen if they fail to reach a consensus.
For example, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the opposition, especially the Congress, over the triple talaq bill, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma hit back. “Our party is completely against triple talaq. But there is a procedure for every bill in Parliament,” Sharma said.
“It goes to the standing committee and after that, it is debated and passed. This government is trying to bypass Parliament.”
The triple talaq bill was passed in the Lok Sabha with a voice vote on 28 December last year. However, it is stuck in the Rajya Sabha where the opposition led by the Congress has demanded that the bill be referred to a select committee before making any further move.
“There are some bigger issues in the country, which we wanted to discuss in the last session as well,” said Sharma.
Another legislation that could create a tussle between the BJP and the Congress is the women’s reservation bill.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi Monday wrote a letter to the Prime Minister requesting him to get the bill passed in this session.
“As you are aware, the women’s reservation bill passed by the Rajya Sabha on 9 March, 2010, has been stalled on one pretext or other in the Lok Sabha for over eight years now,” reads the letter.
“Given the fact that BJP and its allies have a majority in the Lok Sabha, all this landmark legislation requires to become a reality is your support,” it says.
What other parties say
Chandrababu Naidu’s Telegu Desam Party (TDP) is all set to bring a no-confidence motion in Parliament, once again.
The party, which pulled out of the NDA over the issue of special status to Andhra Pradesh, had attempted this during the budget session in March this year, but the motion was not taken up in Lok Sabha due to regular disruptions. Now, Naidu, the party chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister, has written to all the opposition parties barring the Congress to support their move against the government.
The motion has found support in the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
“The Modi government has to face a no-confidence motion in the House. But they did not let the last session function to protect themselves and they are planning to do it once again,” Mayawati said in a statement. “The BJP is trying to disrupt the Rajya Sabha too like the Lok Sabha, so that issues of national interest should not be taken in the house. This is condemnable.”
As far as the Trinamool Congress is concerned, it believes the BJP should not be allowed to get a chance to blame the opposition for possible disruptions in Parliament.
“PM has already gone on campaign mode,” said senior party leader Dinesh Trivedi. “We don’t want him to go and tell the people that the opposition is not letting the House run. The House should function to take up issues of public interests and everyone, including the government, has to co-operate.”
Other players such as the AIADMK, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Samajwadi Party have not opened their cards as yet.
BJP’s game plan
The ruling dispensation has already started back-channel talks with key opposition leaders for smooth conduct of the House proceedings.
A few days ago, minister of state for parliamentary affairs Vijay Goel met former PM and senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh to hammer out a solution. Other floor leaders of BJP will also reach out to opposition parties to create a consensus on contentious issues.
“We have spoken to opposition leaders. We have communicated to them that smooth functioning of the House is as much their responsibility as ours,” said Goel.
“There are six ordinances and many bills that are pending…We all have to work together,” he said.
Sources said despite the challenges from the opposition, the BJP seems confident that there will be public sympathy in its favour in case of continuous disruptions in the House that it’s the opposition which has created a logjam.
“If legislation such as triple talaq bill and OBC commission bill are not passed, it will reflect badly on those who oppose it, especially in an election year,” said a BJP source.
“It is a win-win situation for us although we will try to get these bills cleared,” added the source.
Meanwhile, the BJP could consider delaying the telecast of House proceedings by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha channels by a few minutes in case of excessive protests or disruptions during the monsoon session.
“We may consider the option of deferred live if protests continue inside the House,” said a source.