Winter Session headed for a washout

The Winter Session of Parliament is on the verge of a washout owing to demonetisation, with both the Treasury and Opposition sides blaming each other for not allowing debate and no substantial business having been transacted in either of the two Houses, even on the penultimate day on Thursday.

The deadlock that began with the start of the session on November 16 over the manner and rule under which a debate on demonetisation should be held, persisted throughout.

The Congress cited BJP veteran LK Advani’s publicly expressed angst over the way the House is being run as evidence of the government’s unwillingness to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament.

Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad repeated this assertion in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday where, once again, the NDA and the Opposition engaged in a slanging match that led to repeated adjournments.

“It is the ruling party that is disrupting the House… In both Houses (of Parliament), it is the ruling party that is not allowing the Parliament to function. It is for the first time in the history of independent India that the ruling party is not allowing the House to function,” said Ghulam Nabi Azad, as BJP members shouted slogans, displaying copes of a news report that claimed that some functionaries in the erstwhile UPA regime had allegedly received bribes in the AgustaWestland chopper deal.

Azad, who had given a notice to raise the issue of distress among farmers after demonetisation, was called by the Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien to speak but he could hardly make his submission as the ruling party members created an uproar.

“I have given the floor to the Leader of the Opposition. It is the convention of the House that when Leader of the Opposition or Leader of the House wish to speak, they are heard in silence,” Kurien said, but the BJP members did not heed.

Union ministers, too, interjected as Azad rose to speak, with I&B Minister M Venkaiah Naidu wanting to know what he wanted to say and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi saying the members of the ruling side want a discussion on the corruption issue.

While pandemonium prevailed, Azad shouted over the din, “The ruling side is not allowing Parliament to function.” BSP leader Mayawati, Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M) and Derek O’Brien of the TMC too rose to speak but nothing could be heard. At this point, Congress members trooped into the Well of the House shouting slogans demanding farm loan waiver from the Centre. The House was soon adjourned.

While the series of adjournment continued in the Rajya Sabha, the Deputy Chairman remarked at one point, “The item to be taken up is discussion on demonetisation of currency. Since both sides are disrupting, I will have to assume that both sides do not want a discussion.”

In the Lok Sabha too, the government and the Opposition traded charges, with the ruling party adding fuel to the fire by bringing the Gandhi family under attack in the AgustaWestland case. TMC’s Sudip Bandhopadhyay and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that the Opposition wanted a debate on demonetisation even without voting or under any rule, but there were counter attacks from the BJP side, leading to continued heated exchanges in the House.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar accused the Opposition of scuttling debate from the day the session began on November 16.

Charging the Opposition with attempting to fail the note ban move, he said Congress was trying to “manage currency” (note jugaad) post-demonetisation when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a vigorous campaign against black money.

Ananth Kumar referred to the VVIP chopper scam issue, saying the “master middleman” Christian Michel has named “the first family of the UPA” and, therefore, the Congress is running away from debate, an allegation that led to the Congress members trooping into the Well of the House.

The Lower House, too, was adjourned without much business having been transacted.