It is desirable that the Opposition, instead of wasting Parliament’s time, scrutinises the Government on issues that concern the nation
It seems, the Winter Session of Parliament is heading for another washout. Unfortunately, no major business has been transacted until now in both Houses. The issue of confrontation this time was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation move and the unpreparedness of the Government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to meet the situation in the aftermath. No doubt, it took a while for the people to understand the implication of the move. Overnight, the common man was left without cash to transact his day-to-day expenditures. The Opposition, which was starved of issues, promptly snatched it.
It’s not as if the Government did not expect a stormy session, they were well prepared for it. The Government tried to reach out to the Opposition by holding an all-party meeting. On the first day of the session, Modi told the media, “I feel, a good debate will take place in this session too. All parties will have the best of contribution. Best of efforts will be made to take all parties along in completing the Government business.” However, despite the Prime Minister’s declaration, that the Government was willing to discuss all issues, the session has been disrupted every day for political reasons.
The Government has several key Bills listed for this session. Many legislations are on the agenda. There are many Bills that are GST-related. These Bills follow the decision of the GST Council recommendations of a four slab tax structure for GST with an upper limit of 28 per cent. The Government plans full GST rollout by April 1, 2017.
Apart from legislative business, there are other important issues to discuss like the recent terror attack, India’s surgical strike across the line of Control, situation in Jammu & Kashmir and one rank one pension which needs immediate attention.
It is, therefore, imperative for Parliament to ensure a productive session. After all, Parliament functions on an average of just about 100 days in a year. The budgeted cost of running Parliament is around Rs600 crore per year. Parliamentarians attending the House, without transacting business, tantamount to wasting this money.
Why does the Opposition disrupt the proceedingsIJ To be charitable, some say that it is their genuine concern. Others opine that they do it to grab voters’ attention. Direct telecast of the proceedings has also given them an opportunity to show to their respective constituents their concern for them. Moreover, political parties have their own interests. Also, a walk out or boycott gets them headlines. lastly, it is a tit-for-tat politics. The Congress, which is in Opposition, wants to pay back the BJP in the same way it had suffered when it was in power. The result is that the treasury benches and the Opposition blame each other for logjam.
The MPs have four important functions. They are: legislative, oversight, representative responsibility, and the power of the purse responsibility. Parliamentarians should endeavour to perform all these functions. After all, a parliamentary Government is described as a Government by discussion.
It is desirable for the Opposition to go beyond disruption and put the Government on the mat, rather than walking out or boycotting the session. Demonetisation is a good opportunity. The common man may applaud them if they discuss and debate the plight of the people.
The Government, on its part, has succeeded in dividing the Opposition to blunt its attack. There are visible cracks in the Opposition unity in the past week or so. The JD(U) has distanced itself after JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar supported demonetisation. The BJD has kept a wait and watch stance. The Samajwadi Party is not fully involved.
Second, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has proposed to set up a panel of Chief Ministers to suggest ways to move towards a cashless economy.
The Government feels it is on a strong wicket because of public’s support, despite inconvenience. While the middle and lower middle class are feeling the cash crunch, the poor are happy that the rich have been deprived of illegal money.
The logjam needs to be broken. The Opposition holds that it is the responsibility of the Government to run the House while the Government expects constructive cooperation from the Opposition. For smooth functioning of the House, both sides need to initiate debate on policy matters and enact legislation.
(The writer is a political commentator and a syndicated columnist)