After the Winter Session of Parliament ended on Friday without transacting any noteworthy business, both the Opposition and the BJP insisted that the villain of the piece was on the other side of the divide.
While a delegation of Opposition parties led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called on President Pranab Mukherjee to register their protest over the impasse, the BJP hit back at them for “paralysing” Parliament.
Both sides were clearly trying to win the battle of perception. As the media flagged up the enormous cost incurred on running Parliament, the leaders on either side seemed desperate to wash their hands off the deadlock that led to a near complete washout of the session.
launching the offensive, leaders of some Opposition parties led by Congress bosses met the President and apprised him of the problems caused by demonetisation and complained that the Government did not allow Parliament to function and “stifled” the Opposition’s voice.
While leaders of Trinamool Congress, RJD, JD(U) and AIUDF and some other parties joined the Congress-led delegation, NCP, DMK, left parties, SP and BSP stayed away.
The delegation, led by Congress brass with a host of leaders from various Opposition parties being part of it, later handed over a memorandum to the President.
“We are extremely pained by this trampling of our democratic rights and the suppression of our right to present our views and make our voices heard in Parliament. We are deeply concerned that our parliamentary democratic system itself is under severe threat.
“The demonetisation decision has brought about a disastrous situation in the nation. We beseech you, as the protector of the Constitution, to kindly intervene to save the people from economic disaster,” the memorandum said.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the leaders apprised the President of the situation arising out of demonetisation and the problems being faced by them.
“We told the President that we wanted a discussion on demonetisation in Parliament and on problems faced by farmers and small traders. We wanted a debate in Parliament, but the Government flouted all democratic values and blocked it,” he said.
Speaking on the manner in which the Winter Session of Parliament functioned, he said, “The Government completely failed in running the proceedings in Parliament. Ministers holding placards did not allow Parliament to function.”
Incidentally, Janata Dal (U) leader Sharad Yadav was also part of the delegation, indicating a rethink on his party’s stand backing demonetisation.
leading the BJP’s counter-offensive, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the “Opposition’s disjointed strategy” was responsible for the derailment of the Parliament session. He pointed out that the Opposition started the debate on demonetisation in the Rajya Sabha and then suddenly put brakes on it.
Kumar said the Opposition’s “blind-folded strategy” derailed business in both the Houses with the Congress Party constantly shifting their goal posts.
Kumar said when the debate on demonetisation started in the RS, the Government thought the same would begin in the lok Sabha, too. But it did not happen as the Opposition insisted on adjournment motion. However, later the Congress-led Opposition changed its stand saying it was ready for a debate without any rule as the Government had already “initiated debate under Rule 193”.
In RS, he said the Opposition first insisted on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presence and when the latter presented himself, they put forward other demands.
The lS lost 92 hours due to the disruptions caused ever since the session began on November 16. The RS had a similar fate even though the exact loss of time was not immediately known. The lS passed four Bills while the RS passed only one Bill. The session hardly saw any legislative action except for the passage of the Rights of Persons with Disability Bill by both the Houses.