The Parliament’s Monsoon Session has kicked of quite as per plan. 4 disruptions and eventual adjournment at the Rajya Sabha was Day One’s highlight and Day 2 doesn’t promise to be significantly different with talks of silent dharna ensuing in the days to come. We have been lamenting about the loss of significant legislation time, reforms taking a backseat and a severe loss of the tax payer’s money used for day to day expenses of running the Parliament through the entire session period.
But that aside I cannot help but wonder the kind of thought that goes in preparing and staging these disruptions and adjournment. While the UPA Govt’s last term takes the cake in terms of witnessing the maximum number of disruptions and adjournments, the going has been rather tough for the BJP Govt lately. So how does the current opposition, Congress Party, stand to gain from it?
Well first and foremost adjournments and disruptions clearly help Congress to keep the attention completely focussed on the recent corruption scams plaguing the BJP Government including the Vyapam Scam and Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje’s alleged links and assistance to Lalit Modi in securing travel documents out of India. Additionally these would also mean that the legislative agenda would be significantly delayed and the progress on the actual governance front for the Modi Govt would be quite slow.
Perhaps it is a justifiable plot from the opposition’s perspective but the Modi Govt needs to clean up its act and pull itself together to ensure a smooth run of the Monsoon Session. Afterall they must not lose sight of the fact that one of the key reasons for their thumping victory was the inaction and absolute policy paralysis in the preceding 10 years. A similar ate might not augur too well for them and meaningful steps to introduce significant reform and re-orientation on the policy front might actually help them improve their position on the National Stage.
The fate of the ongoing session is perhaps anyone’s guess and whether BJP or Congress have the last laugh is hardly our lookout but nation building and policy progress are the sure losers in this political mudslinging.
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