When in trouble, seek divine intervention. That is what UPA-2 appears to be doing. Besieged under a slew of scams that have stalled the Parliament in the last few sessions, the government is battling its ghosts and wondering how best to go about introducing various important bills that are pending because they cannot be introduced on the floor of the house.
In their endeavour, the Congress is tacitly dependent upon the man sitting on the Raisina Hills, the incumbent of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Pranab Mukerjee, to bail them out with a series of ordinances which UPA is now set to introduce, having failed to win parliamentary approval.
The situation is on a razor’s edge. The BJP-led opposition parties are hell bent on blunting any move perceived to be electorally motivated in favour of the ruling party – and that includes a clutch of crucial bills which the government now plans to introduce as ordinances.
Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj told TSI, “Our party is keen to expose the Sonia-Manmohan government for what it is – a corruption-laden, incompetent dispensation. Merely introducing bills and glossing over uncomfortable facts is not enough. We want a debate on floor of the House.”
According to her, the litany of opposition grievances is pretty long and so far the government has not come up with any cogent answers. It is this stonewalling by the opposition parties which led to the logjam in the Parliament, as a result of which important bills have been put on the waiting list. The fact that all trade unions sinking their differences decided to protest against the government’s economic policies is a telling comment on the UPA government, she says.
But insiders in the Congress believe that if the Budget Session of the Parliament also goes the way of other sessions – adjourned more often than deliberated – it suits the government because a lot of things do not come on record. Statements issued out of the house or on TV channels may have entertainment value but not very much else.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath agrees that the current monsoon session of Parliament is going to be crucial. (See interview) There are 55 bills, 13 non-legislative financial bills and 16 new legislation which are waiting to be introduced. Nath says he is hopeful of cooperation with the opposition parties, which is why important bills like Crime Against Women, Land Acquisition and Food Security are likely to be introduced within the first fortnight of the monsoon session.
Congress sources believe this session is going to be as stormy as the last, given the number of potentially ticklish subjects on the table: the Westland Helicopter scam, Afzal Guru’s hanging and rampant inflation, to name just three.
But the government is mentally prepared now: if critical bills like Food Security, Lokpal, Job Reservations etc are not passed in Parliament, they are quite prepared to to sent it to the Rashtrapati Bhavan for endorsement. Even if it is for the sake of tokenism or appearances, the UPA government would be seen to be making moves in that direction and go to elections in 2014 on those grounds seeking a mandate.
Says SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav: “The problems are a creation of the Congress itself. It is surprising that despite renowned economists at the helm, Manmohan Singh and Pranab Mukerjee, things have gone so wrong. Industrial production has come down, inflation is out of control, people are buying Chinese goods instead of Indian and the UPA government is shameless enough to say that economic reforms have been given a boost as compared to the NDA regime.”
BJP’s maverick Ram Jethmalani credits the UPA government with one major gain during its two tenures: the untrammeled growth of black money in the economy. He says this is a government of multiple scams, often involving family members of VIPs. “It is no surprise that bills are pending. History will assess the Manmohan Singh government to be the most corrupt ever. Will people still vote for Sonia, that is a million-dollar question,’’ he says.
Some of these charges may well stick. Manmohan Singh, during Congress’s Chintin Shivir in Jaipur recently compared the progress of his government with the NDA’s and also added that the benefits provided by this government is not reaching the masses. That, some people in the party quipped, was the job assigned to Singh’s government in the first place.
Which is why Rahul Gandhi was given charge as Congress vice-president and his role confined to the party organisation. Party strategists believe that Rahul should be seen as being instrumental in introducing bills close to minority causes. The Congress scion has held three important meetings with Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram to hammer out these issues and has impressed upon the government to launch a full-fledged advertisement campaign highlighting the gains of the UPA government – cautioning at the same time against NDA’s Indian Shining type of campaign. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tiwari has been put in charge of this Congress blitzkrieg.
All this has put Kamal Nath in a jam. He has sounded the party high command on the most vexed of all his problems: if so many bills are already pending, how can the government introduce fresh bills on the floor of the house?
Congress leaders indicate that a special committee under the chairmanship of Congress think tank member Sam Pitroda will assess just how the party will proceed to change these bills into ordinances. This panel could also well decide the Congress agenda in the crucial months ahead leading upto General Elections 2014.
“Passing critical bills can hardly be called an election strategy”
Interview with Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath
This budget session is the last for this government. The last three Parliament sessions were practically wasted. Do you think some of the important bills pending could be passed this time?
The government is very keen that all bills be passed but it is dependent upon opposition parties. We in the government are keen to take the opposition on board and are hopeful that things will change this time around. We are prepared for debate and discussion to persuade them.
Bills like Lokpal, Women Reservation and Land Acquisition are hanging fire. Do you believe they could be passed in this session?
I have no problem in admitting that there is lack of consensus on bills like Lokpal and Women Reservation. Even though, both the bills have been referred to the Standing Committee, it may not be possible for all political parties to agree on a common agenda. Which is why we want discussion on these important bills. There could be a problem in getting these bills passed in both houses of the Parliament.
2014 is the year of General Elections. How important are these bills for you?
With elections on the anvil, the Congress is duty bound to introduce bills like Food Security and Land Acquisition. But these bills should not be seen merely from the electoral point of view, they are the noble efforts of the Congress government to reach out to the last man standing. These two bills, if they become law, would greatly help the aam aadmi (common man). Now if the opposition parties believe that these bills are being introduced keeping elections in mind, there is not much that I can say.
While you say that the opposition has deliberately stalled proceedings in Parliament, the BJP and others say that the UPA government is being less than cooperative and wants to avoid a debate on corruption and inflation which affect the common man.
Even in the three disrupted sessions so far, the government has always maintained that it is ready for any discussion on any subject. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has reiterated the same recently. I have been in touch with opposition interlocutors and have stated the same. But it appears that the opposition is not interested in parliamentary procedures; their interest is to show this government in bad light.
