With three working days to go, fate of Parliament unknown

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service 

New Delhi, December 11

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Congress each accuse the other of not allowing them to speak in the Lok Sabha, the fate of Parliament Winter Session — which enters its last phase — remains uncertain.

 “If they allow me to speak in Parliament, then you will see what an earthquake will occur,” Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said outside the Lok Sabha on Friday.

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With only three working days left before the Winter Session comes to a close on December 16, the question is whether the warring sides would consider it worthwhile — politically smart, that is — to make brownie points inside the Parliament, especially when they can score bigger by speaking outside?

The past four weeks have seen battle lines over the Central government’s decision to invalidate old high-denomination banknotes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000.

The BJP government claims it is willing to debate, only not under the Opposition’s terms — such as requiring the Prime Minister’s presence in Rajya Sabha during the debate.  

The Opposition claims it has always been willing to debate, provided the Central government fulfill certain conditions.

 In the Lok Sabha, where the BJP has the numbers to pin the Opposition down, party leaders say they do not want to be seen as conceding to "unreasonable" demands.

“The House functions according to rules, not according to the whims and fancies of the Opposition,” they said in response to Congress's allegations of not allowing its vice-president to speak on Friday. 

In the meantime, the fate of legislative Bills of public importance, such as the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014, hangs in the balance, even as large sum of money continues to be wasted over a paralysed Parliament: each minute of a session is reported to cost the exchequer more than Rs 2.5 lakh.

Leaders from all political parties indicate that a breakthrough in the impasse was likely in the next week and that important Bills may be pushed through.

More than 20 crucial Bills await introduction, consideration and passage during the ongoing Winter Session.

However, Bills related to the Goods and Services Act appear to remain evasive. Officials in the Central government say introduction of the indirect tax may have to be pushed to September next year — five months later than the Central government had intended (Apri1 1, 2017 was their deadline) — as the GST Council continues to disagree about the Centre’s dual tax regime under the policy. 

Meanwhile, as the deadline for the 50-day period that Prime Minister Modi had asked for from the public over demonetisation draws near, some voices within the party fear that the BJP had fallen prey to “overconfidence", somewhat similar to what happened when former NDA Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee advanced general elections in 2004.

There are reports of some banks being stoned, an ATM looted and the Prime Minister being booed at some rallies in Uttar Pradesh, where elections are due early next year.

“Demonetisation is a bold decision. But whether it is politically smart or foolish is something that remains to be seen,” some leaders say.

Another worry is the quantity of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency deposited in the banks since the Central government announced the measure on November 8: reports claim that an overwhelming 86 per cent high-value currency has already been deposited. 

With merely 18 days remaining for the Central government’s deadline of December 30, the money in banks on January 1, 2017, could raise questions over the Central government’s claims of combating black money — the problem Modi’s measure primarily targets.