Winter session unites Opposition as Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar provide fresh ammo

The winter session of Parliament that concluded today came as a welcome development for the Opposition as it helped in restoring its unity.

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The INDIA bloc had started showing signs of cracks, but the Parliament session saw the constituents join hand to corner the BJP. The Opposition parties coordinated well as they decided to give a notice for moving no-confidence motion against Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar as they accused Dhankhar of working in a partisan manner.

The notice – signed by 60 Opposition members of the Rajya Sabha cutting across party lines – was turned down, but it served the purpose of demonstrating the unity of INDIA bloc parties.

TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had triggered off a controversy by offering to lead the INDIA bloc. The inclusion of TMC in the notice served as a tool to bury the controversy.

Subsequently, Home Minister Amit Shah’s allegedly disrespectful remarks against BR Ambedkar, while replying to the two-day discussion on the Constitution in Rajya Sabha, further brought the Opposition together in the Parliament. All Opposition parties – barring the TMC – joined the protest against Shah on the issue pertaining to BR Ambedkar. While the TMC has kept away from the joint protest, it has been agitating against Shah and the BJP on its own.

The Ambedkar issue has also given Opposition parties fresh ammunition at a time when they were getting tired of raising the Adani-Modi link issue. Notably, three INDIA bloc parties — TMC, Samajwadi Party and NCP (Sharad Pawar) — had dissociated themselves from the Congress-led protests on Adani.

The SP is now actively taking part in the INDIA bloc protests on against Shah for allegedly showing disrespect to Ambedkar. “It is not what Shah said about Ambedkar, but the way he said it, making it clear that the BJP has no respect for Ambedkar,” P Sandosh Kumat, a CPI MP said.