Having commenced from 20th July, it has been seven days since Parliamentary Session began, but proceedings haven’t been smooth. Session begins in the morning but are adjourned soon thereafter. Although the ruling party is putting the blame on the Opposition, the reality is different. Including Congress, 26 opposition parties have demanded to discuss the ongoing violence in Manipur, but the ruling party is not giving in to the demand. In fact, they are spreading disinformation that they are ready to discuss the issue, but the Opposition is not. Home Minister Amit Shah said the same on the floor of the Parliament.
What BJP leaders are not revealing is the difference between the discussion demanded by the Opposition and the discussion the ruling party wants to have. The discussion demanded by the Opposition is as per Rule 267 while the ruling party wants it under Rule 176. There is a huge difference between these two rules and the discussions held under them. What the Opposition is demanding is a prolonged discussion which would go on for the entire day and no other matter will be discussed in the House. The discussion will involve ruling as well as Opposition members with the Prime Minister answering in the end. However, the ruling BJP wants to have a short duration discussion. And as per the Opposition, it will not allow to discuss the matter in depth. The Opposition also wants Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a statement on Manipur in the Parliament which the ruling party isn’t agreeing to. It’s been seven days since the Parliament Session began but Modi hasn’t shown up in the House even once.
On the day the session began, Modi spoke to the media outside the House for the first time before entering Parliament. He made a statement regarding ‘that’ viral video of Manipur, a break of silence on the topic which came after 78 long days. In fact, he should have spoken the same inside the House as session was ongoing. Be it a minister or a Prime Minister, the statements should be made in the House first and then if need arises, a more detailed explanation outside the Parliament is welcomed too. But Modi spoke only outside the House. An objection was raised regarding such incidents against the ministers in Goa Assembly too. Goa has experienced opposition demanding for the ministers or chief minister to speak in the Assembly before making statements outside of the House. The same rule is applicable for the Centre too. The responsibility of stopping and preventing the violence in Manipur is of the Central Government as much as it is of the State government. But how will the issue be resolved when the Centre is not even ready to speak about it? Hence, the Opposition is demanding for a long duration discussion in Parliament so that a solution can be found. In fact, the Prime Minister should have taken cognisance and made a statement on his own. There was no need for anyone to demand it from him. Besides, the Centre on its own should have extended help to the Manipur state government in preventing the violence.
It is the Opposition’s duty to oppose the government. Of course, the Opposition must be constructive. However, the current government cannot tolerate any sort of opposition. There is nothing wrong in the demands made by the Opposition. Therefore, the government should agree to hold discussion on Manipur violence followed by a reply by the Prime Minister. The proceedings of the House wouldn’t have been affected if that had happened already. Now since the heads of the government aren’t responding, the Opposition has opted for a clever way. The Opposition has moved a no-confidence motion against Modi which has been accepted by the Speaker, Om Birla. The design of the motion is such that the Prime Minister will have to come to the Parliament when no-trust vote is allocated time for discussion. The Opposition has opted for an apt path. BJP has accused the Opposition of not fulfilling their duty by opposing the government. However, when the BJP was in Opposition, they opposed even louder. If it was appropriate then, how is it inappropriate now?
