25 Cong MPs suspended for disorderly conduct

Left parties, TMC, AAP and NCP join Congress-led boycott of Lok Sabha

An open war broke out between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and the Opposition on Monday after Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 25 Congress members for five days on charges of disorderly conduct.

It isn't clear how the parliamentary logjam, which Monday's developments have deepened, will be resolved. What looks certain is the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, to conclude on August 13, is unlikely to see any business being transacted, a blow to the government's economic reforms agenda.

However, there were indications that the Speaker might be amenable to revoking the suspensions.

At a meeting of the parliamentary joint committee on the contentious Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members suggested changes that effectively junked the government's amendments to the United Progressive Alliance government's 2013 land Act. This marked a major victory for the Opposition.

 

But the government's overtures might not help in resolving the impasse, with the Congress announcing it will boycott the Lower House. The government's efforts to reach out to the Opposition were further hit as it didn't have a direct communication line with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Congress MPs were heard saying not only the monsoon session, even the winter session would not be allowed to run. What further queers the pitch for any rapprochement is the fact that both the National Democratic Alliance and the Opposition are preparing for what are set to be keenly contested Assembly polls in Bihar.

With the Left parties, the Trinamool Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) joining the Congress-led boycott, the fate of the most economic legislation - the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill cleared by the Cabinet last week - hangs in the balance.

Since Monday morning, the signs were clear: Congress President Sonia Gandhi, while addressing a meeting of the parliamentary party, was critical of the government's conduct and said the House would not function till Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, as well as the chief ministers of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, resigned. Emerging from the all-party meeting, leader of the Rajya Sabha and Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad said the result of negotiations with the government was a big zero. "Our stand is resignation first, then discussion," he said.

When the Upper House convened, Swaraj tried to make a statement but she wasn't allowed to speak. After she laid her statement on the table, the House was adjourned.

In the Lok Sabha, the government tried to conduct some business in the afternoon, but slogan shouting and display of large placards, thrust at Deputy Speaker Thambi Durai's face, caused Left party MPs to counsel their Congress colleagues to show some restraint. Several ministers, including Rajiv Pratap Rudy, too, crossed over to Opposition aisles to plead with the MPs. Finally, Sumitra Mahajan named 25 Congress MPs, announcing their suspension under article 374 (a) of the rules of business.

PARLIAMENTARY PARALYSIS: WHAT LIES AHEAD

• Speaker suspending 25 MPs deepens the gulf between NDA and Congress. Prospects of resolution of parliamentary logjam not clear
• Government overtures such as relenting on the land Bill and indicating that suspensions could be revoked unlikely to persuade the Congress; government strategists hobbled in their efforts by not having a direct communication line with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi
• Suspensions bring together what until now was a divided Opposition
• Monsoon session washout a near certainty and government’s economic reforms agenda under threat
• GST Bill unlikely to be passed in the session; will severely impact any possibility of a GST roll-out by April 2016
• Real Estate (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2015, also unlikely to be passed in the current session
• The govt-Opposition standoff could even impact winter session proceedings
• If differences persist, the next ray of hope for the govt could be in early 2016, when the Rajya Sabha, where the government is in a minority, will elect nearly a third of its members, which could see Congress numbers decreasing
• Meanwhile, BJP is preparing for a bitter battle against the ‘grand secular alliance’ in the Bihar elections
• Assembly polls in Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and Assam by mid-2016 might affect government ties with some regional parties as well

Congress members showed their outrage by squatting on the floor and refusing to leave the House. Soon, the Speaker adjourned the House and a visibly agitated Congress President reached out to other Opposition party members on the floor of the Lok Sabha, including Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. "The Trinamool would boycott the House for the next five days," said Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay.

Outside the House, the party was mutinous and unrepentant. Congress leaders termed the Speaker's action "premeditated". Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, likened the move to suspension of Opposition members in the Gujarat Assembly. "The Speaker has acted in a partisan manner," he said.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said, "It's an undeclared Emergency." Sources said the Speaker had suspended those who had consistently disrupted the House during the session, irrespective of whether or not they were present at the time of her ruling.

Recognising things had perhaps gone too far, the government tried to say it was the Congress that had used article 374 A the most and with the greatest impunity. It was hinted that the Speaker could be persuaded to revisit her ruling. However, this had no effect.

The net result of the day's proceedings was not only was the Opposition united, but legislation such as the GST, on which there is no real political difference of opinion, has been tossed out of reckoning. Also, the government had to come to terms with the fact that despite being in a majority in the Lower House, its version of the Land Acquisition Bill 2015 would not pass muster.

Now, the government has been forced to revert to the 2013 version; it will have to go through the painful process of withdrawing its own Bill.