When the Winter Session of Parliament commenced on Wednesday, it was widely-expected that a united Opposition would give the Union government a tough time over its decision to ban high-denomination notes, which has caused immense hardship to the poor and middle classes across the country. As a result, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was well prepared to aggressively counter the Opposition attack.
But the opening day of the session turned out to be a tame affair. Not only was the Opposition a divided house, but the ease with which the Congress agreed to a discussion on demonetisation in the Rajya Sabha, and then mounted a lacklustre attack, gave the ruling coalition a distinct edge. The Congress did attempt to change the narrative by accusing the government of leaking information about its decision on demonetising high-value notes but these charges seemed feeble. There were also divisions within the Congress over the strategy the party adopted in the Rajya Sabha.
At the end of the day, the Narendra Modi government’s parliamentary managers were a relieved lot as they were able to take credit for the smooth start to the session that was expected to be a stormy one.
Banerjee on the offensive
An initiative taken by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to bring together all Opposition parties, including her arch rival, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), did not materialise.
Banerjee led a march to Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday where a memorandum was submitted to President Pranab Mukherjee to demand the immediate suspension of the government’s move to invalidate Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes.
The Trinamool Congress chief possibly drew solace from the fact that she was joined in the march by the Shiv Sena, a BJP ally, the Aam Aadmi Party and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah. Other political parties like the Congress, the Left parties, the Janata Dal (U), the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party did not in participate in the march.
The Congress and the other Opposition parties maintained that they did not take part in the march as they wanted to exhaust all other Parliamentary tactics first before petitioning the President. They also did not agree with the Trinamool Congress demand that the demonetisation exercise be called off.
Afraid that they would be perceived to be speaking in favour of hoarders of black money, the brunt of their attack focused on the tardy implementation of the demonetisation exercise, and the harassment faced by the poor who had no money to purchase essential commodities. The confusion in the Opposition ranks (except the Trinamool Congress) was evident as its leaders were still assessing the mood of the people and whether there is genuine anger against the government’s surprise move to replace high-denomination notes. There was also no clarity on the Opposition’s demand for the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the matter.
The Trinamool Congress was, however, not convinced with the explanations Opposition parties gave for not joining the march.
“The fact is they did not want to give credit to Mamata Banerjee for taking a lead in this effort,” remarked a senior Trinamool Congress MP.
Going solo
The Trinamool Congress has decided to chart an independent course in Parliament. Banerjee has already announced that her party will move an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha for a debate on demonetisation.
Under the rules, a notice for an adjournment motion must be signed by 50 MPs, and till Wednesday evening, the Trinamool Congress was short of 10 signatories. The Trinamool Congress MP said that he hoped that the Congress and the Left parties would support the notice, but added that the party will press ahead with its demand even if it does not have the numbers. At the same time, the Trinamool plans to disrupt proceedings in the Rajya Sabha to press for a vote on the ongoing discussion which is to conclude on Thursday.
While the Trinamool Congress and other Opposition parties were busy taking swipes at each other in private conversations, there were rumblings in the Congress over its decision to allow a debate on the opening day itself, and the party’s choice of speakers.
A senior Congress MP said that it was initially decided that their party would block proceedings in the Upper House to keep the “demonetisation” issue alive but their leaders readily agreed to participate in the debate.
“We don’t know how this happened…in the process, we ceded ground to the government,” he said.
There was also palpable anger in the Congress over its decision not to field former finance minister P Chidambaram as its lead speaker. Instead, former commerce minister Anand Sharma opened the debate on behalf of the Congress. Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal, it was felt, would have lent greater gravitas to the Congress attack. The two former ministers, it is learnt, have declined to participate in the discussion.
Even as the Opposition struggled to put the government on the mat, the BJP camp drew comfort from the fact that the session got underway without too many hiccups.
Although the ruling coalition is defensive about the hardship being caused to the people, the BJP leaders believe the anger among the masses will subside in a few days once normal banking operations resume. “There might be anger among the people, but fortunately there is no violence or a serious law and order situation,” remarked a BJP minister.
Another BJP minister maintained that this move was similar to Indira Gandhi’s decision to nationalise banks (in 1969) and abolish privy purses (in 1971), which had worked to the advantage of the Congress politically. “The poor are used to hardships, but they get sadistic pleasure when the rich and privileged are hit,” he said. “The BJP is bound to derive political mileage from this move.”
