Hope Parliament’s Winter Session is productive
The Winter Session of Parliament, which begins on November 26, is expected to be a stormy affair for a number of reasons. But this does not mean that it should not conduct its core business, which is, the passing of important legislations that are for the country’s larger good. Of all the Bills that await a nod, the Goods and Services Tax Bill is being seen as the most critical. The Government and the Opposition will have to indulge in give-and-take and not adopt the ‘my way or the highway’ approach. Unfortunately, the Congress has already hinted at the latter, when one of its senior parliamentarians said his party would support the Bill only if all the points it has red-flagged are taken care of. The GST Bill has acquired shape after elaborate consultations with all stakeholders, including Chief Ministers belonging to the Congress. It is true that the original Bill, which had been presented by the earlier Congress-led UPA regime, has been tweaked. But the changes are not monumental, and in any case, they have been done to strengthen the Bill for the benefit of the States and the country’s economy in general. The Congress must adopt a moderate view and not indulge in aggression for the sake of aggression. On its part, the Government can favourably consider some of the Opposition’s suggestions if they do not dilute the core of the Bill. What is worrisome is that some voices which had earlier backed the Bill can do an about-turn in the wake of the Bihar Assembly election result, which went against the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is being speculated that the Janata Dal (United), flush with its electoral victory in collaboration with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, could go along with its new-found partners in opposing the Bill in its present form. The JD(U) had earlier supported the Bill. The GST issue could thus turn into a showcase of ‘opposition unity’. MPs cutting across party lines must realise that the passage of the Bill has the potential to add significantly to the nation’s GDP growth, which will benefit all sections of society. Any further delay will only bring in negative sentiment and harm economic progress. Politics can be done elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the Winter Session is likely to generate much heat and dust over a host of other issues. If the Congress and its friends in the Opposition benches can raise the spectre of ‘growing intolerance’; condemn the Prime Minister’s frequent trips abroad ‘while farmers are suffering in the country’; and revive the by-now familiar ‘suit-boot-ki-sarkar’ jibe, the Treasury bench will seek to embarrass the Congress over its vice president Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship controversy; the Robert Vadra land deals; and the party’s failure to address farmers’ issues when it was in power. In a bid to show up the ‘failure’ of the Congress-led regime to tackle national security issues, the BJP-led NDA could showcase its success in getting gangster Chhota Rajan and insurgent Anup Chetia back to India for justice. Besides, the treasury bench can justifiably point to an upturn on the economy front. The rise in foreign direct investment figures and the keenness that various countries have shown in partnering India, are plus points that the Modi Government can justifiably take credit for.