From all accounts, the Narendra Modi government came out a winner in the Budget Session of Parliament which came to a close on Wednesday. It was a change from previous sessions when agitating Opposition members did not allow any worthwhile business to be conducted. Then, the confrontation between an unrelenting Opposition and an inflexible government ensured that Parliament was converted into a war zone.
The Parliamentary managers of the National Democratic Alliance government had something substantive to report at the conclusion of a session after a long gap. Despite the usual disruptions by the Opposition, Question Hour functioned smoothly and a fair number of Bills were passed without any major hitch.
Clear passage
Besides the finance and appropriation Bills, the legislative business taken up included the passage of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the Anti-Hijacking Bill, the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill and the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill. The all-important Goods and Service Tax Bill was not taken up as the ruling alliance and the Congress have not been able to evolve a consensus on this crucial legislation.
However, the session was not without its share of skirmishes. The Congress opened the second half of the session with a belligerent attack against the Modi government for its decision to impose President’s Rule in Uttarakhand and, at one point, it appeared that this session would also be a washout.
A defensive government, however, managed to turn the tables on the Congress following an Italian court’s verdict in the AgustaWestland chopper bribery case. The mention of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other senior party leaders in connection with the bribery case provided the much-needed ammunition to the Bharatiya Janata Party to target the principal Opposition party’s First Family. The presence of the newly-nominated BJP member Subramaniam Swamy in the Rajya Sabha, a known Gandhi family baiter, further added to the tensions between the Congress and the treasury benches.
These battles, however, did not interfere in the successful completion of the government’s legislative business. The session was a classic case of “the government having its way and the Opposition having its say.”
On the back foot
Despite these successes, the BJP was not exactly in a celebratory mood when the session drew to a close. Having managed to deflect attention from the Uttarakhand crisis at the start of the session, the ruling party found itself in an unenviable and embarrassing position on the same issue at the end of it. The Supreme Court disagreed with the NDA government’s decision to impose Central rule in Uttarakhand and ordered a floor test, which eventually led to the restoration of the Harish Rawat-led Congress government in the hill state after a prolonged 45-day battle.
Although sheepish BJP leaders sought to justify the imposition of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand, they were clearly on the back foot after the NDA government received a rap from the apex court. This turn of events proved to be a timely morale-booster for the Congress, which could not save its government in Arunachal Pradesh, also dethroned by the BJP. The Uttarakhand developments energised the Congress rank and file, which had already rallied around its leadership in the wake of the BJP’s attack on the Gandhis in connection with the AgustaWestland bribery case.
BJP blame game
In sharp contrast to the Congress, members of the BJP were clearly in a sullen mood resulting in a blame game in the party. Although there was no direct reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and finance minister Arun Jaitley – the trimurti who run the party and government – party members privately questioned their decision to wade into the Congress party’s internal affairs and impose President’s Rule in Uttarakhand.
There was palpable anger among party members who pointed out that by going ahead with the Uttarakhand misadventure, they had ended up strengthening the Congress and Harish Rawat. Had they not intervened, it was pointed out, the BJP would have been the obvious beneficiary of the anti-incumbency against the Rawat government in the Assembly polls due next year. “Who advised our leaders to rush matters… we could have won the state but that’s no longer the case,” remarked a senior BJP office bearer.
But the moot question is: Will the BJP leadership learn any lessons from this fiasco? Party insiders are not convinced that their leaders will retreat from the path of unnecessary confrontation with their political opponents. “Leopards don’t change their spots… did our leaders change after the party’s humiliating defeat in Delhi and Bihar,” remarked a BJP minister. “In any case, who will muster the courage to tell our leaders that they are not in the right and that they need to take corrective measures.”
The BJP bosses, however, see this as a passing phase. They are eagerly awaiting the results of the ongoing Assembly elections on May 19 in the hope that a possible victory in Assam and a good showing in Kerala will lift the mood in the party.
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