India Inc is upset that there are disruptions in Parliament. Many top corporate honchos have got together to ask MPs to get together and discuss issues in a more sober and civil manner. A poll of CEOs, conducted by the Economic Times, has apparently blamed the Congress for this state of affairs. BJP and other MPs are also pointing fingers at the Congress, and the Speaker has openly said that TV cameras should show the ruckus being made by Congress members.
Clearly, an impression has built up that it is the Congress that is holding up the business of Parliament and but for its disruptive behaviour, important bills like the Goods and Service Tax (GST) are being held up.
Public memory is short but not that short. Just till the other day, that is, when the UPA was in power. The BJP created even bigger disturbances in Parliament and many of its worthies openly said that not letting the House function was a legitimate strategy. The Congress today has a mere 44 MPs and has managed to stall proceedings; the BJP had 117, nearly three times more, imagine their vocal strength. Not a day passed without work coming to a complete standstill. The UPA, already in shock after revelations of scams, and facing up to anti-corruption crusades of Anna Hazare and his band, was paralysed in the House too. No one has forgotten that and so the BJP’s criticism of the Congress seems very hypocritical. This is nothing but paying back the BJP in the same coin.
However, tit for tat may sound reasonable, but is it a good policy? After all, the country suffers, since the GST Bill needs to be passed to ease of doing business. The Bill was introduced by the Congress and the BJP stalled it for four years; now that the BJP wants it, and the Congress believes in it, why not let it pass? Why not at least discuss it and let both the Houses take a call on it; if the Congress wants to defeat it, it can, given that the BJP does not have the numbers in the Rajya Sabha.
From the Congress’s point of view, that is a major political risk. It cannot be sure that the Opposition parties will remain united. Jayalalithaa will never side with the Congress, Mamata Bannerjee’s party could go either way in a crunch situation and now Mulayam Singh Yadav too has distanced himself from the opposition grouping, arguing that a discussion must be held. In any case, Mulayam’s U-turns are legendary and he has the distinct ability to pull a rabbit out of his hat, as both Sonia Gandhi and Mamata Bannerjee have found out in the past. What if others too cross over? Then the Bill gets passed and it is seen as a major victory for the government; why should the Congress allow that? Yes, it is ugly politics, but that has unfortunately become the norm.
The Congress, on its part, can also point out that it did not oppose several other bills in the past and indeed would allow even the GST to pass, if the Prime Minister asks his External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to resign. She has now become the focus of the battle. Narendra Modi is loath to ask her to go, because that will not just indicate that what she did was wrong but hand over a big moral victory to the Congress. But letting her carry on as normal is not doing any good to his and his government’s image. What she did may not have been strictly illegal, but there were ethical breaches involved. She has defended herself using the emotional card, but that would not wash.
This session is a wash out and will result in almost no bill being passed. The Land Bill has been buried, which is a political loss for the government, since this was to be showpiece legislation for Narendra Modi. But can this state of affairs continue? Will this also be the fate of the winter session? In which case, how will legislative work be done?
All parties need to think about this. The BJP, which used to be a past master at these tactics, is now in the government, with an overwhelming majority. It needs to firstly improve its Parliamentary management skills and also find ways to work with the opposition to ensure that the legislative work gets done. The onus is also on the government to ensure smooth functioning of the Parliament.
The Congress cannot hope to achieve much in the long run with these methods. At some stage, other parties will desert it and then it will be left isolated with just its 44 members, which does not give it much clout in the Lok Sabha at least. It will have to rethink its strategy. Perhaps both sides could reach a modus vivendi to move forward — say a committee to look into allegations against Swaraj while the work continues. But will that happen? It will require a lot of give and take from both sides to take a few steps forward and compromise. This will require shedding egos and being pragmatic; a political risk is also involved. Yet, they need to move and move quickly. Important work is held up which affects the country and its economy. The nation is watching.
