Government, opposition spar over House disruptions

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 22

With the winter session of Parliament becoming the third most unproductive session of the 17th Lok Sabha after the third and the sixth sessions, the government on Wednesday said the Opposition was unable to digest the mandate PM Narendra Modi got in 2019 and was resorting to disruptions out of frustration.

Also read: 11 Bills passed; session ends one day ahead of schedule

MPs should debate, discuss, not disrupt, says LS Speaker Om Birla

The Congress hit back, accusing the government of suspending 12 Opposition MPs in a deliberate ploy to “manufacture a majority in the Rajya Sabha and pass dangerous Bills”.

“The Opposition cannot digest the mandate the PM got in 2019. They continue to think their right was snatched. Not allowing the Houses to run is anti-democratic,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said today, rejecting the Opposition’s accusations that the Election Law Amendment Bill was not circulated in time.

The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, meanwhile, said 12 suspensions that led to Rajya Sabha disruptions “were deliberately planned by the government to garner majority in the Rajya Sabha and remove active MPs from the House.”

“Non-NDA parties have 120 MPs in the Rajya Sabha and NDA and supporting parties have 118. The government unconstitutionally suspended 12 Opposition MPs on the first day of the session to garner a majority and pass all Bills without debate,” Kharge said.

Congress chief whip in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh said Kharge had offered to regret on the behalf of all 12 MPs on November 29 evening itself “but the government insisted that every MP should regret individually.”

“The government delayed a resolution to ensure a majority in Rajya Sabha and pass Bills as dangerous as the election law amendment which has the potential to disenfranchise several minorities, SCs, STs and women. This Bill is as dangerous as the farm laws,” Jairam said adding that the opposition remained united in the winter session on suspension of MPs and resignation of MoS Home Ajay Mishra for his son’s role in Lakhimpur Kheri killings.

The Congress veteran also said the session ended as undemocratically as it began. “The session began with farm laws being repealed without discussions and ended with the Election Law Amendment Bill being passed in 15 minutes in Lok Sabha and zero debate in Rajya Sabha.”

Asked why the Opposition didn’t participate in RS proceedings when it knew the government wanted to push Bills in their absence, Jairam said, “Absence from the Rajya Sabha was the collective decision of the Opposition.”

Opposition got more time to speak: LS records

LS records show while BJP MPs got to ask 100 supplementary questions during the Question Hour, opposition MPs raised 158 supplementaries. Likewise, 324 zero hour references — 57.54% — were made by opposition MPs as against 239 by BJP members