The Modi government’s cup of woes is full to the brim as the monsoon session of Parliament commences this week amid overcast skies on a variety of issues ranging from Manipur to Maharashtra, floods to food.
There are issues galore.
Manipur,Brij Bhushan, and Tomatoes
The situation in the troubled state of Manipur is causing concern on the one hand and the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sensitive matter on the other. Several opposition parties are demanding the resignation of the Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh.
The flood situation in different parts of the country including the national capital is a cause for worry.
Unlike any time in the past nine years when Narendra Modi became PM, the opposition looks more united. This is even though the BJP has been helped by parties like the YSRCP and Biju Janata Dal on crucial occasions. Some parties are seeking an entry to the NDA and they would also be seen with the government in the session.
Rising prices of essential commodities especially vegetables are making life harder for the common man. Tomato’s skyrocketing prices are making people agitated. Petrol and diesel prices are high despite the easing of international crude prices for long.
The demand for the resignation of Railway Minister Ashwin Vaishnaw is also expected to be voiced on the issue of rail safety in the wake of the Balasore train disaster in which some 300 passengers perished.
The ill-treatment of the protesting wrestlers and the ‘inaction’ against controversial BJP MP Brij Bhushan Saran Singh will figure in Parliament. The issue of the conduct of various governors in different states is likely to be raised. Opposition parties are insisting that their conduct was an assault on the federal structure of the country.
Opposition, Defections, and Elections
Opposition is unlikely to miss the opportunity in targeting the world’s largest party for attempting to split minor players in the wake of Ajit Pawar’s partying of ways with NCP headed by Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra and becoming the Deputy Chief Minister in a government in which the major player is the BJP.
Last year, around the same time the Shivsena was split with the surprise rebellion by Eknath Shinde who overthrew Uddhav Thackeray and his Maha Vikas Aghadi government. It was vendetta politics in full play.
Parties and members from rival sides from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana would be especially aggressive as these are poll-bound states where elections are due by the year-end. With the Parliamentary polls just 8-9 months away, the battle is turning fiercely political and the opposition has not forgotten the Adani issue in which it has sought the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
As the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will be meeting for the first time after the Karnataka polls, there is a charged opposition which is seeking to get its act together inside and outside Parliament. The meeting of the 20-odd opposition parties in its unity bid at Bengaluru ahead of the monsoon session is a good augury.
Rahul Gandhi might be away from Parliament but the opposition will endeavour to project it as a witch-hunting exercise of a vindictive government. Gandhi’s latest attempt to revoke his disqualification came to a nought in the Gujarat High Court and the battle is set for the Supreme Court.
Till the floods hit Delhi, an agitated Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s one-point programme was the campaign to repeal the Centre’s ordinance on administering Delhi. Now he is also targeting the Centre for not being prompt enough to help in the flood crisis and is being sharply hit back by the local BJP. There are charges and countercharges galore which will reflect in the proceedings.
The Supreme Court’s order against any further extension to the Enforcement Directorate chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra has come as a slap for the Centre. Detractors of the BJP are overjoyed given their perception that the ED, CBI and Income Tax departments have been willing tools in the hands of a vindictive government. The issue is bound to generate much heat amid Home Minister Amit Shah’s assertion that the opposition should not think that a change of director would lull the ED into inaction against the corrupt.
Though there are no signs so far that the government would bring a bill on the Uniform Civil Code, rival sides would be making their points vociferously for and against such a measure given its likely impact on every walk of life.
21 New Bills in the New Parliament
On the government’s part, there will be much celebration over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit which is being described as historic. His visit to France would also be shown how the PM has become a prominent world leader.
On the legislative front, the government is planning to bring 21 new Bills, including one that intends to replace the contentious Delhi ordinance and another to process digital personal data, during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament starting next Thursday. Altogether, the government intends to pass 31 Bills in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha during the session that ends on August 11. The proposed legislation also includes the Bills seeking the withdrawal of the contentious DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill.
The way the inauguration of the new parliament building was conducted created many rifts between the government and the Opposition. The problem is that the Modi dispensation is the least sensitive to the sensibilities of its opponents in the history of independent India if one leaves the Emergency phase. So it was not unexpected for the BJP regime. Opposition plans to raise the issue of President Droupadi Murmu not being invited to the inauguration.
Interestingly, the session is set to be held in the original building, Parliament sources said. This means that work is still on in the new Parliament building inaugurated by the Prime Minister over a month back which was a mega event.
Ahead of the session, a mini-expansion cum reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers is being talked about. The name of Praful Patel of the NCP (Ajit's faction) is being talked about as a possible prominent entrant.
A new phenomenon is being witnessed in Parliament in recent times. Members of the ruling party create a ruckus when things become uneasy for the treasury benches. So it is unclear how much the opposition would be able to attack and expose the government. The session will reveal what new tricks the Parliament managers of the Modi dispensation have.
For the record, they would declare that they are ready to discuss any issue under the sun if allowed to be debated by the Chair. In reality, it means neither here, nor there.
(Sunil Gatade is a former Associate Editor of the Press Trust of India. This is an opinion article and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)