Opinion: Give us a good Monsoon Session

The IMD has forecast a good monsoon this year. This brings cheer to farmers and many others who depend on agriculture. The same hope though is not held out about the Monsoon Session of Parliament that begins today.

Relations between the government and Opposition parties have remained in a cynical stalemate since at least the Winter Session of Parliament last year. The Budget Session was also an almost wash out with even the Budget itself getting passed without debate or discussion.

The opposition parties had tried unsuccessfully, and perhaps prematurely, to move a no-confidence motion during the Budget Session mainly because they were outmaneuvered by the BJP that was said to have tacitly backed AIADMK and TDP disruptions. Citing ‘lack of order’ in the House the Speaker disallowed the opposition’s no-confidence motion.

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Opposition’s No-confidencemotiona Symbolic Victory?

It’s not an easy question to answer. Even though BJP’s tally of seatshovers aroundthe majority figure of 272, itstill has abrute majority in theLokSabhaand can easily win the trust-vote.But giving Opposition hope is the fact thata lot has happened since the Budget session. BJP’s failure to dislodge Congress from power in Karnataka where the grand old party managed to muster an alliance with arch rivalJD(S)and the subsequent show of opposition unity at the swearing-in ofKumaraswamyas Chief Minister has induced a new energy among opposition ranks.

The consolidation of Opposition unity has also been tested successfully at the variousLokSabhabypolls.

In UP,BahujanSamajParty’sMayawatiandAkhileshYadavofSamajwadiParty have showntheway by winning three bybypollsincluding the Gorakhpur seat, which was considered a BJP bastion and which was held by Chief MinisterAdityanath.Lately, the two parties joined hands with theRashtriyaLokDal and were able to win oust BJP fromKairanaLokSabhaseat, which has further bolstered the opposition.In Maharashtra too, BJP lost one of twoLokSabhabypollsto NCP-Congress combine.

Inbypollsheld in Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya, non-BJP parties have performed well and won most of thebypolls. InMeghalaya where Congress had been ousted from government by a BJP-engineered coalition, itis once again thesingle-largest party after it won theAmpatibypoll.

Outside the Parliament, things are certainly looking better for the opposition compared to the last monsoon session when it was on shakier ground and had still not come together to fight elections.

Skyrocketing fuel and food prices, the cascading effects of US-China trade war on our economy, and the crumbling state of public sector banks have all negatively impacted both the average Indian consumer and investor confidence.

The perception ofjoblessand insipid growth,an increasingly fragile state of law and order with aspate of mob killings,and crucial judicial developments such as the alleged dilution of the Atrocities Act- all these give enough firepower to the Opposition’s plans to corner the government. But, as we have seen in the past sessions, only a united Opposition can outsmart the treasury benches inside the house. The presence of even one chink in its unity can derail Opposition plans.

Though nobody expects the no-confidence motion to pass,the fact that it has beenmovedgives the Oppositiona symbolic victoryand morale boosterahead of the next round of assembly elections, and the general elections next year. Now thatthe no-confidence motion has been moved we can perhaps hope that once it is over the Parliament can carry on with its primaryjob-to deliberate on laws and policies- no less than 18 new Bills are to be introduced in the Parliament, and a total of 108 pending Bills (both Houses) need to be taken up in this session.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)