New Delhi: The government finally held negotiations with the Opposition parties on Monday and agreed to its demands for discussion on 75 years of the Constitution, the violence in UP’s Sambhal and the atrocities on minorities in Bangladesh. The negotiations were necessitated after the first five days of the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament were completely wasted. The breakthrough came at a meeting of Speaker Om Birla with the floor leaders of political parties where, after the government gave in to the Opposition’s demands, the latter agreed to allow Parliament to function from Tuesday.
There is, however, no commitment from the government for a discussion on the Manipur situation and on the US indictment of industrialist Gautam Adani and his associates, though the Opposition parties are confident that they will find ways to raise the matter.
Chaos continued in both Houses of Parliament for the fifth day on Monday. The government managed to introduce the Coastal Shipping Bill in Lok Sabha and lay papers in both Houses before they were adjourned for the day.
In the Rajya Sabha, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar disallowed notices under Rule 267 and for a discussion on the Adani issue. Before adjourning the House for the day, Dhankhar compared the situation to Murphy’s Law, which says “anything that can go wrong will go wrong”.
“It appears that there exists a deliberate algorithm to actualise Murphy’s laws in this august House, consequently impeding the proper functioning of Parliament. We find ourselves achieving precisely the antithesis of what our Constitution ordains,” the Vice-President said.
The pandemonium forced the government to sit with the Opposition leaders and come to an agreement on its demands. The two sides have agreed to break the impasse in Parliament with a discussion on the Constitution to mark its 75th year of adoption on December 13 and 14 in the Lok Sabha and on December 16 and 17 in the Rajya Sabha.
It is learnt that the Samajwadi Party may be allowed to raise the Sambhal issue while the Trinamul Congress will be permitted to raise recent events in Bangladesh in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
“Today, a meeting of all-party floor leaders was held with the Speaker, Since a few days there has been a deadlock in the Parliament, everyone has expressed their concerns over it… Several demands have been made by the Opposition… the Speaker also said if anyone wants to raise an issue, there is a rule for it. You can submit a notice for it but creating a ruckus in Parliament and obstructing (its) functioning is not good. Everyone has accepted this. It is good that everyone has accepted that discussions will be held from tomorrow,” parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said.
The Opposition parties were demanding discussions in both Houses to mark the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution by the Constituent Assembly. The Congress has been raising the issue of the indictment by US prosecutors of Adani Group chairperson Gautam Adani and other company officials on bribery and fraud charges. This coupled with the vociferous Opposition protests over matters like the Sambhal violence and Manipur unrest resulted in constant adjournments of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha since the Winter Session began on November 25.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh blamed the government for the loss of time since last week, saying: “Who is responsible for this washout? It’s the government that is responsible. The Opposition wants a discussion on issues of Adani, Manipur, Sambhal, Ajmer, unemployment, etc. But our notices are not even mentioned and our leaders are not allowed to speak. Today, on the fifth day of Parliament, the House was adjourned... We have demanded that the government hold a two-day discussion on the 75th year of the Constitution. The government has agreed to our demand… The Adani issue is very important... In my 20 years of experience, it’s the first time I’m seeing the government doesn’t want Parliament to function.”
Meanwhile, CPI Rajya Sabha MP P. Sandosh Kumar submitted a breach of privilege motion to Chairman Rajya Sabha Jagdeep Dhankhar against railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, under Rule 187 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) over data on the deaths of railway workers.
