The winter session of parliament has ended on a very disappointing note. The battle lines are clearly drawn between the government and the opposition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls . The fire-works began with the expulsion of upfront and aggressive TMC MP Mahua Moitra and ended with the suspension of over 140 opposition MP’s.
The government action on opposition leader’s came after they demanded answer from the home Minister Amit Shah over the security breach in parliament on the very day it was marking the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 parliament attack on December 13. Interestingly on the both the occasions it was the BJP led-NDA government at the Centre. Then it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now it was Narendra Modi at the helm of affairs.
The BJP which had consistently blamed the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on China apparently chose to ignore/ down play the parliament attack/ security breach issue. And helping them keeping mum on the issue was the pliant Godimedia.
The government’s lack of willingness to address the security breach in parliament was slammed across the political spectrum. Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor was scathing in his remarks. Tharoor said that the moment has come to start writing ‘obituaries for the Parliamentary democracy’ in our country. “The message is very simple, in a Parliamentary democracy we are looking at a situation in which the government, whose responsibility is to run the Parliament, is not taking its responsibility seriously.” He said that the Centre showed no willingness to honour the convention of Parliamentary democracy.
“A major security breach occurs, instead of fulfilling his duty as a minister, (Shah), insults Parliamentary democracy by not only refusing to appear in the House, which is his duty, but also going outside and issuing press statements, saying all the things that he could have said in the House,” Tharoor said.
“In the conventions of Parliamentary democracy that is the rule. But it wasn’t done. So from our point of view, what the government did was unacceptable and showed no willingness to honour the convention of Parliamentary democracy. Secondly, when Parliamentarians demanded the presence of the Home Minister and discussion on the issue, they were instead suspended,” added Tharoor , a three- Time Lok Sabha MP.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge tweeted on X , We, the people of India need to Save Democracy. Passing important legislations by suspending Opposition MPs is not Democracy. It is the worst kind of authoritarianism. Our future generations will not forgive us, if we do not raise our voices against this dictatorship, NOW !
Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the session reached out to the opposition and urging them not to vent their anger of the recently concluded assembly poll results in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan. But the outreach was only on the lips not followed . The government went ahead to expel Mahua Moitra . While let- off likes of vitriolic MP Ramesh Bidhuri and the MP from Karnataka Pratap Simha who allegedly gave visitors pass to the intruders resulting in security breach on December 13, 2023. A sheer brazen double standards that was exposed by senior Congress leader Manish Tewari on X . Tewari wrote, Someone who allegedly gave a password to someone to ask questions was expelled from Lok Sabha without following due process. Someone who allegedly gave passes to someone’s to smoke bomb the Lok Sabha is not accountable to any process. Double Standards never cease to amaze.
By suspending Opposition MP’s Government is not intimidating them but shaming itself .
For the whole world knows it has no answers to the grave security breach that occurred on 13 th December 2023.
What is the message that the world’s largest Democracy is sending to the global… pic.twitter.com/luHV8NMbXP
— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) December 18, 2023
On the suspension of MP’s Tewari hit out at the government in sharp tweet, By suspending Opposition MP’s Government is not intimidating them but shaming itself . For the whole world knows it has no answers to the grave security breach that occurred on 13th December 2023.
What is the message that the world’s largest Democracy is sending to the global public opinion that it’s Supreme Temple of Democracy is being rendered Opposition-Less by the use of heavy handed, authoritarian & coercive tactics. This is the Tyranny of Dictatorship & it will get only worse if people do not wake up and raise their voice against this bulldozing of democracy.
The BJP has often used the slogan Congress mukt bharat , now with the suspensions of opposition MP’s in the winter session and the sheer audacity to not take questions with – No Questions please ! line . The goal of the BJP it seems clearly opposition mukt parliament. Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal was more blunt in his take on the current situation as he tweeted on X , Modi ki Guarantee Opposition mukt Bharat !
Lastly , Given the clear the total distrust between the Government and the opposition it is now clear that so- called all- party meetings are of no use but just photo-ops . And the line that – for vibrant democracy one needs strong opposition is now sadly becoming a joke. If questions are not allowed by opposition then the whole concept of parliamentary democracy lies in tatters.
Moreover, one had hoped that with the new parliament building a new era would begin – unfortunately the status quo remains. Disruptions continued, and a step further was taken – suspension of opposition MP’s. And bills which could have faced fiery debates were passed with sheer brutal majority with voice vote . As Kapil Sibal in apt tweet on X wrote, Mother of Democracy Has orphaned it ! The people of India must take care and ensure its survival.
