Monsoon Session concludes on rancorous note: BJP revs up for 2024, Oppn counts positives

The session, which began on July 20, had 16 sittings but the constant disruptions by the Opposition over the issue of Manipur violence were utilised by the Treasury Benches to pass controversial Bills without any criticism or dissent on the floor of the House. Joshi said the Lok Sabha passed 22 Bills while the Rajya Sabha passed 25. Both Houses approved 23 Bills, ensuring they become laws. Among the Bills that received the nod of one House were some that the other had approved in previous sessions. Overall, Lok Sabha’s productivity was 45% and the Rajya Sabha’s was 63%. The key pieces of legislation that Parliament passed in this session were: Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill, Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, and the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill.

Accusing the Opposition of disrupting Parliament for partisan reasons, Joshi said they participated in the discussion on the Delhi services Bill to show their unity but obstructed proceedings on most occasions, including the debate on the no-confidence motion.

Joshi’s attack on Gandhi came after the Congress leader, at a press conference, targeted the government on the Manipur violence, saying that members of a central security force told him during this visit to Manipur that they had never seen anything like what was happening in the state. Explaining his expunged remarks on Manipur, Gandhi said, “That is why I said ‘Bharat Mata’ has been murdered in Manipur. For the first time, the words ‘Bharat Mata’ have been expunged from Parliament. It is an insult to those words.”

Countering the Congress leader, the Union Minister said, “The term ‘Bharat Mata’ has not been expunged. What was unparliamentary has been expunged. Unparliamentary words are selected as per a rule book and there is nothing arbitrary about it. It appears from whatever statements he (Rahul Gandhi) has made today that he has lost his mental balance.”

His Cabinet colleague Anurag Thakur also took a dig at Gandhi. “Rahul Gandhi ji, you are yearning for power like a fish out of water. You have a habit of sowing seeds of hatred … Home Minister Amit Shah in the House (Lok Sabha) gave detailed information on Manipur and also brought a proposal for calling for peace. But the Congress tried to create disturbance in the House and left no stone unturned in creating a disturbance in Manipur as well,” he told reporters.

Suspensions and acrimony

The Monsoon Session witnessed acrimonious exchanges since the beginning. Three Opposition MPs got suspended, including AAP’s Rajya Sabha members Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha and Congress’s Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. The suspension of Chowdhury, the leader of the largest Opposition party in the House, for “gross, deliberate and repeated misconduct” is considered rare in Parliament’s history.

During the Session, the BJP initiated a series of initiatives to strengthen its National Democratic Alliance (NDA), with Modi addressing MPs belonging to its constituents in batches. It also succeeded in keeping friendly parties such as the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), Biju Janata Dal (BJD), and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on its side during crucial passages such as the Delhi services Bill and the no-trust vote.

Like in the Monsoon Session ahead of the 2019 general elections, both PM Modi and the BJP used the no-confidence motion debate as an opportunity to highlight their achievements, “expose” the Opposition, and make a pitch to voters for the general elections. The discussion on the no-trust motion, initiated by Congress Deputy Leader of the House Gaurav Gogoi, lasted for nearly 20 hours and saw 60 MPs participate.

The Opposition, meanwhile, will be counting the positives and the negatives. On one hand, it managed to keep the INDIA alliance together. Terming the Opposition bloc’s floor strategy a success, Gogoi said, “INDIA succeeded in keeping Manipur the focus of Parliament, in forcing the Prime Minister to speak in the Lok Sabha, in forging a greater unity, and made itself heard,” he said.

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But, there were also serious differences in the Opposition camp, with some leaders having argued that the INDIA bloc should participate in discussions and be ready for a debate on Manipur without insisting on Modi’s presence in Parliament.

— With PTI inputs