Parliament’s Monsoon Session, which concluded on Friday, saw the BJP score over the Opposition twice: it defeated a no-confidence motion against the government, and also got its nominee elected as the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling coalition does not have a majority.
The session was the “most productive” for the Lok Sabha since 2000, the think-tank PRS Legislative Research said. As many as 21 Bills were passed in the Lok Sabha, and 12 in the Rajya Sabha. These legislations include the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2018, which reversed the Supreme Court’s March 20 order ‘diluting’ the original Act that provides safeguards to Dalit and tribal communities.
The ruling party also has reason to showcase its commitment to the oppressed communities with passage of a Constitution amendment Bill granting constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes. Another Bill, relating to economic fugitives has been heralded as a major achievement in the context of absconding businessmen Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Vijay Mallya.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said the session had been “more productive and satisfactory” compared to the Budget Session, and last year’s Monsoon Session. “We had 17 meetings and 112 hours of discussion in the House. Fifty-one members participated in the debate on the no-confidence motion, which altogether lasted for 11.48 hours…I am happy to say that this has been a more productive session than the second-half of the Budget Session or the 2017 Budget Session,” said the Speaker.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said it was a “landmark session”, which could have been better had the Congress not “betrayed the cause of women” by resisting the triple talaq Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
The BJP has enough reason for cheer, given that the Opposition failed to unite on the election of the RS Deputy Chairman on Thursday. The Congress candidate BK Hariprasad lost as many as 16 votes, which should have polled in his favour.
Displaying extremely poor floor management, three of the Congress’ own MPs Viplov Thakor, T Subbarami Reddy, and Ranee Narah were absent during the vote. Three MPs from the Samajwadi Party (SP), and two from the Trinamool Congress, too, did not attend.
Similarly, two of the DMK’s MPs were missing; the Aam Aadmi Party’s three MPs did not come to vote for the Congress nominee because, reportedly, Congress President Rahul Gandhi had not reached out to their chief, Arvind Kejriwal. The PDP, which broke away from the NDA recently, did not send its two MPs to vote for the Congress.
In sharp contrast, the NDA’s candidate Harivansh got votes from parties that are not part of the ruling coalition. The BJP’s floor managers displayed much better coordination and tactby getting six MPs from the TRS, 13 of the AIADMK, and nine members of the BJD to support Harivansh.
The YSR Congress, with two MPs, had backed the Congress candidate on Wednesday, but abstained on Thursday, while accusing both the Congress and the BJP of having “done nothing for Andhra Pradesh”.
Shockingly, the Indian National Lok Dal’s Ram Kumar Kashyap voted for the NDA candidate, who is a JD(U) MP. Only last week, party leader Dushyant Chautala had publicly demanded the resignation of Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar, at a protest rally attended by Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav).
With similar ease, the NDA defeated the no-trust vote with 325 MPs voting in the Centre’s favour.