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NEW DELHI: The bugle of political war was sounded in Parliament, with Congress president Sonia Gandhi launching a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday morning and the Lok Sabha Speaker ending the day with the unprecedented suspension of 25 Congress Members for five days.
The BJP and the Congress were at each others jugular with the logjam of the preceding weeks of the monsoon session of Parliament reaching to open and intense confrontation.
Sonia Gandhi hit out at PM Modi with “the ‘mann ki baat’ man appears to retreat into a “maun vrat” whenever there is a scandal involving his colleagues.” She went on to add, "He (PM) has been conspicuous by his deafening silence on blatant transgressions by his EAM (External Affairs Minister) and two of his CMs (Chief Ministers).” The Congress through the session has been categorical that it will not allow a discussion until the government responded favourably to its demand for the resignation of the BJP leaders implicated in the Lalit Modi scam.
The Congress president rendered a very hard hitting speech that clearly had the BJP all worked up, as was evident in the reactions to the opposition by senior Ministers like Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha. The Parliament session, she noted, had been very eventful because of the “ gross insensitivity of the Modi government to public opinion, for its absolute silence on acts of monumental corruption, its wilful violations of the law and gross misdemeanours on the part of its leading lights.
The Prime Minister has been very free with his promises. Yet he seems totally incapable of delivering on them. On the one hand, he never misses an opportunity to claim the moral high ground on transparency, integrity and accountability. On the other he has been conspicuous by his deafening silence on the blatant transgressions by his External Affairs Minister and two of his chief ministers. There are others too in this roll call of dishonour but for the time being we are confining ourselves to these three. The “mann ki baat” man appears to retreat into a “maun vrat” whenever there is a scandal involving his colleagues.
Today, we have to listen to sermons on parliamentary behaviour from those who not only defended but also advocated disruption as a legitimate tactic when we they were in the opposition. Yesterday's agitators in both the Houses have suddenly become today's champions of debate and discussion. “
The Congress President minced no words in pointing out that there was “incontrovertible evidence” against the BJP leaders. “For too long, this government has used its numerical strength as a source of arrogance rather than responsibility. First, Parliament is by-passed and a spate of ordinances are issued and some re-issued as well. Bills don't get referred to Standing Committees. And now this numerical strength is being used to substitute investigation by mere discussion. This is unacceptable to us and we will do all that is necessary to hold this government accountable. Parliamentary majority does not give anyone a license to escape accountability. It is our Constitutional right and duty to raise our voices against the acts of omission and commission of the government, “ she said.
It is clear that the Congress has taken a policy decision not to allow the government leeway unless it drops its arrogance and makes itself more accountable. Aware of the criticism against it for stalling debate, Sonia Gandhi referred to it and ended her speech to the parliamentary party with,”before I close, I wish to say a word on the charge that we lack statesmanship because we have stalled a debate on the Gurdaspur tragedy. I would like to remind those who have levelled this allegation at us about what happened on November 28th, 2008 when anti-terror operations were underway in Mumbai. All of a sudden the-then chief minister of Gujarat appears in the city and instead of supporting the Prime Minister indulges in grandstanding and criticises him. Was this statesmanship?”
The Lok Sabha Speaker followed up by suspending 27 Congress MPs for raising slogans and carrying placards in the House. This unprecedented action reflected the inability, or the disinterest, of the government to push for talks and mend fences with the Opposition in Parliament. As Congress sources said this suspension will only escalate the crisis, both in and outside Parliament with even the regional parties sitting on the fence now probably having to take a stand against the Speakers action. The all party meeting called earlier by Minister Venkiah Naidu dissolved into an acrimonious non-event with Minister Arun Jaitley spending the time attacking the Congress. Business advisory committee meetings earlier were not able to work on the agenda, with the government and the opposition MPs unable to bridge the widening gap.
The Rajya Sabha witnessed intense discussion on the rules governing the House, as Minister Sushma Swaraj made a ‘statement’ about her ‘no involvement’ in the Lalit Modi case that was challenged by the Congress as a violation of the rule book. Congress leaders led by Anand Sharma in the House pointed out that Swaraj had spoken without the permission of the Chair, and after the House had been adjourned and hence it could not be taken as a ‘statement’ by the Speaker. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the Minister was within her rights and wondered, “how a three minute response could make the Oppositions ‘haalat itni kharaab.” Sharma joined by CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury then systematically argued from the rules to state that a statement could only be made in the House with the permission of the Chair, and with prior notice which was not done in this case. Sharma wanted to know what rule book the government was looking at, pointing out that Swaraj’s response came after Jaitley said that the Minister would now ‘make a statement.’
The confrontation has already been taken outside Parliament with Rahul Gandhi repeatedly questioning the government and more directly PM Modi. Sonia Gandhi made it very clear in her speech that the fight would be taken to “every nook and corner” of the country and clearly identified the issues as agrarian distress reflected in farmers suicides, the Land Acquisition Bill and interestingly, civil society. She said rather forcefully, “for reasons best known to it, the government has come down heavily on civil society organisations and social action groups. They are integral to our democracy and many serve as the moral conscience of our society. But this government has been quick to silence and muzzle any activism, any grassroots movement for mobilization. Thousands of NGOs are under threat by the draconian actions of the government. And there is clearly a strong element of vengeance in these actions against some NGOs who have been exposing the dark deeds of those in power. “
Clearly the Congress strategy is to occupy the space it lost while in government where it came down heavily on the same constituencies it is now re-positioning itself to champion and protect. The resurgence as several Congress MPs described it, has angered and worried the BJP judging from the strong responses in Parliament from the government. The war both sides agreed will intensify over the next weeks with the Congress family, surprising many of its members, by the new found resolve to lead from the front.
