For two days during this recently concluded Budget session, MPs were in Parliament from 11 am to 4 am the next morning. Seventeen hours on the trot. Surely, parliamentary democracy is all energised and in top form. Right ? No. Completely wrong. Don't let the contrived all-night-long sessions deceive you. To borrow a sentence first used by columnist Vir Sanghvi, “Parliament is being turned into a deep, dark chamber”.
The Statutory Resolution to the Proclamation of President's Rule in Manipur was notified on February 13, 2025. Parliament recommenced on March 10. Why then was this discussion on Manipur held at the fag end of the session? Why was the Government avoiding the subject for almost three weeks? Worse still, why in the dead of night? Just 44 minutes in the Lok Sabha.
What happened in the Rajya Sabha was even more jarring. Three hours had been allotted for the discussion. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) used just two minutes of the 75 minutes they were allotted. In fact, when the opening speaker from the BJP was just two minutes into his speech, floor leaders from his party shut him down. Indifference infinity.
Some more notes from the diary.
1. Voting On The Waqf Bill
While voting on the Waqf Bill in the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition ended up with 95 votes. If it wasn't for medical emergencies, a century might well have been scored. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha's (JMM) Shibu Soren and Mahua Majhi were advised by doctors not to travel. Sharad Pawar from the Nationalist Congress Party(SP) and Subrata Bakshi from the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) were also absent for the same reason. We wish them all a speedy and full recovery. Also, one vote from the Opposition was declared invalid due to a technicality.
2. No Deputy Speaker In Lok Sabha
Another session has ended and there is still no Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha. It has now been almost 300 days since the current Lok Sabha commenced. Article 93 of the Constitution mandates the election of a Deputy Speaker "as soon as may be". Yet, a constitutional post continues to remain vacant.
3. No Notice From Opposition Accepted
Not a single notice raised by the Opposition was accepted for a discussion. The last time a notice from an Opposition MP was admitted in the Rajya Sabha was 16 months ago, in December 2023, when this columnist raised the discussion on ‘The Economic Situation In The Country'.
Another important parliamentary device used by MPs in the Opposition to hold the government accountable is a Calling Attention Motion, which “allows an MP to draw a Minister's attention to a matter of urgent public importance”. The last Calling Attention was accepted in July 2024, on the floods in Kerala. Opposition parties pushed for discussion on issues like duplication of voter IDs, youth unemployment, amongst others. The government looked the other way.
4. The Opposition's New Tactic
When being deprived of time to speak or when not being allowed to raise issues, the Opposition resorted to a new tactic. Prolonged protests were replaced with short walkouts - these invariably lasted for about 10 to 30 minutes. The point was made and the MPs trooped back into the House to participate. Walk out and walk back. This columnist remembers this tactic from the late Sitaram Yechury's playbook.
5. The PM's Vote
PM Modi was abroad when voting took place on the Waqf Bill. History will record that he did not support the Bill. Or oppose it. Or abstain.
6. The LAMP Convocation
Forty-eight MPs, across 17 parties, gathered at the India International Centre, Lodhi Road. The occasion: the 15th annual convocation ceremony of young legislative assistants (interns) who had each spent one year with an MP they had been assigned to. Parliamentarians showered generous praise on the outgoing Legislative Assistants to Member of Parliament (LAMPs), many of whom were accompanied by their proud parents.
7. Book Launches
How can there be a Parliament session without a book launch! Two DMK MPs launched their books. Tiruchi Siva published a collection of his WhatsApp good morning messages. His colleague, Dr T. Sumathy, launched her book Beatrice Webb: A Portrait of a Reformist. Both books were launched at different locations on the same day at the same time.
8. Who Captained The BJP?
The Home Minister was the Government's headliner this session. He piloted three bills from his Ministry and also spoke for 45 minutes on Waqf, which he did not pilot. Amit Shah was BJP's batsman, bowler and fielder. For a change, he was also seen more than once in the cafeteria, interacting with MPs across parties. Interesting times. As a colleague observed, is it the 240 effect? Or could it be a 52 year-old bachelor captaining a very large state. Keen contest. Watch this space.
(Derek O'Brien, MP, leads the Trinamool Congress in the Rajya Sabha)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
