Why opening session of new Lok Sabha may turn out to be stormy affair

The inaugural session of the 18th Lok Sabha will witness tempestuous confrontations between the Treasury and Opposition benches.

Similar sessions of the past were largely about dispensing formalities of electing the Lok Sabha Speaker, swearing-in newly elected MPs and the President of India outlining the broad vision of the new government. The session scheduled to begin on Monday (June 24), however, is expected to see the Opposition give conventional niceties a pass and, instead, put the government on the mat on a host of issues from the very first day of the new session.

With the June 4 Lok Sabha poll results substantially reducing the gap between the bench strength of the Treasury and Opposition after a decade, the latter is in no mood to give Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government any latitude.

Pro-Tem Speaker row

From the nomination of BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab as Lok Sabha’s Pro-Tem Speaker to the raging public storm over the NEET and NET exams, the Opposition’s 237-member (including three independents) INDIA bloc has armed itself with a litany of issues over which it hopes to corner Modi’s 293-member NDA in the Parliament’s Lower House.

The Opposition, of course, blames Team Modi for preparing grounds for a confrontation with its series of actions over the past two weeks. “Many believed that the Lok Sabha verdict, which we have been saying since June 4 was a clear and unambiguous mandate against Narendra Modi, would have a humbling effect on this government but then the PM and the BJP can always be trusted to not show any humility. They continue to smother democracy, parliamentary conventions and subvert the Constitution but the people have elected a strong Opposition this time and we will challenge Modi’s autocratic rule at every step,” Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi told The Federal.

The Congress party, which showed signs of an electoral revival in the recent polls by nearly doubling its 2019 seat tally to finish with 99 MPs (it now also has support of three independent MPs - Vishal Patil, Pappu Yadav and Mohd. Haneefa), had indicated shortly after the election results that its non-cooperation with Modi’s autocratic style of governance will continue.

On June 8, addressing party MPs, Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi had warned the BJP that “no longer can and should Parliament be bulldozed like it has been for a decade now; no longer will the writ of the ruling establishment be permitted to disrupt Parliament, whimsically mistreat members or push through legislation without due and proper consideration and debate; no longer can and should Parliamentary Committees be ignored or bypassed like they have been since 2014; no longer will Parliament be muzzled and stifled as it has been over the past ten years.”

BJP 'provoking face-off'

INDIA bloc leaders The Federal spoke to said Sonia was prophetic when she told the CPP that she does not expect Modi “to change the substance and style of his governance nor take cognisance of the will of the people”. The Opposition believes that despite the huge blow dealt by the electorate to his ambition of steering the NDA beyond the 400-seat mark, Modi has been “trying to project that it’s business as usual”.

The Opposition believes that the choice of Mahtab as Pro-Tem Speaker was a clear sign that the BJP wishes to “continue with its practice of provoking confrontation with the Opposition”. Congress communications department chief and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh was quick to object to Mahtab’s appointment by the President, asserting that the largely ceremonial position, meant merely to preside over the swearing-in of newly elected MPs in the absence of a duly elected Speaker, is given as per convention to a currently serving MP who has the maximum terms in Lok Sabha behind him/her. The Congress has claimed that the post of Pro-Tem Speaker should have been given to its senior MP, K. Suresh, now in his eighth term, and not to Mahtab, who is a seven-term MP.

The Congress’s contention has been dismissed by the government with Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju claiming that Mahtab has been elected to Lok Sabha for seven consecutive terms while Suresh, despite now being in his eighth term as MP, had lost the 1998 and 2004 polls.

The INDIA leaders argue that the government was cooking up a technicality to deny even the post of Pro-Tem Speaker to the Opposition. The Congress has also added a caste-angle to the controversy by insinuating that the BJP had chosen Suresh over Mahtab as the former is a Dalit. Sources in the Opposition alliance said, as a mark of protest against Mahtab’s appointment, the INDIA parties could withdraw their three MPs – K. Suresh, DMK’s TR Baalu and Trinamool’s Sudip Bandopadhyay – from the panel of senior Lok Sabha members constituted by the President to assist the Pro-Tem Speaker in administering the oath to newly elected members of the Lower House.

Lok Sabha Speaker election

The INDIA bloc is also keenly awaiting the NDA’s announcement of its candidate for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker and to see whether the BJP, yet again, breaks with convention by refusing to offer the Deputy Speaker’s post to the Opposition bloc.

“In the last Lok Sabha, the BJP did not let a Deputy Speaker be appointed for a full five years and we don’t see Modi following parliamentary convention and offering that post to us this time too. We have urged the TDP and the JD(U) to demand the Speaker’s post from the BJP because if the BJP gets one of its own elected to that chair, we will again have a partisan presiding officer who will allow the BJP to run the House as per Modi’s whims. We are not aware who they will pick for the Speaker’s post but we are very clear that the Deputy Speaker should be from the Opposition, though we also know the BJP will not let that happen. In such a situation, as of now, it looks very unlikely that the Speaker will be elected unanimously as is desirable... an election looks inevitable and we will have consultations between INDIA allies and also other parties, perhaps even with some NDA constituents, to see who we can unanimously have as Deputy Speaker,” a senior Congress MP told The Federal.

NEET row to dominate

Though the session starting Monday will continue till July 3, it would effectively have just four days to take up any legislative business and also debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament. Following the President’s inaugural address, the first few days will be reserved for administering new Lok Sabha MPs their oaths and for the election of the Lok Sabha Speaker.

Sources in the INDIA bloc, however, said they would press for answers from the government on critical issues, including the mess created around the NEET examinations and the dubious role of the National Testing Agency (NTA), which is tasked with conducting these exams. Among the other issues that the Opposition hopes to weaponise against the government is the alleged “exit poll-stock market scam”, red-flagged by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the immediate aftermath of the poll results, and the three repackaged criminal laws which are due for a roll-out on July 1.

Putting up united front

The INDIA bloc, which had faced some turbulence within its ranks during the Lok Sabha polls, particularly in Bengal, where Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress spurned any possibility of an alliance with the Congress and the Left Front, is now making all efforts to ensure that it remains a deeply united bloc in Parliament. Interestingly, over the past week, Banerjee and DMK chief MK Stalin found common cause and demanded from Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, respectively, that the three criminal laws must not be revisited and their rollout deferred.

Sources said there has been a welcome thaw in the frost ties between the Congress leadership and the Trinamool supremo, particularly since Bengal Congress chief and Banerjee’s most trenchant critic Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury lost the Lok Sabha polls from Berhampore.

“Backchannel discussions have been going on between senior leaders of all our allies. Everyone in the INDIA bloc realises that the public has voted overwhelmingly for us in the hope that we will act as an effective Opposition to Modi and that is exactly what we plan to do till this government, which is surviving on the crutches of provided by the TDP and the JD(U), collapses because of Modi’s inherent inability to be a consensus maker... The Trinamool Congress has had some good discussions with the Congress recently; P Chidambaram had a very cordial meeting with Mamata Banerjee. We have identified issues that we want to raise in Parliament,” a Trinamool Congress MP said.

Will Rahul take over as LoP?

Though Rahul Gandhi is yet to declare whether he would honour the wishes of the Congress Working Committee and accept the post of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, senior INDIA bloc leaders The Federal spoke to said there was “no objection from any ally” to the Rae Bareli MP taking up the crucial responsibility.

“The Congress is the largest party in the INDIA bloc and it has the numbers this time to appoint an LoP... there is no denying that Rahul has shown great maturity as a leader during these elections and emerged as a fierce voice against Modi and the BJP. Naturally, the Congress wants him to be the LoP and I don’t see any objection coming from any INDIA bloc partner, including the Trinamool. Only if he declines and the Congress seeks our views on an alternative, we will give our views but as of now, all of us want Rahul to take on the role,” said a senior leader from Sharad Pawar-led faction of the NCP.