The just-ended first session of the 18th Lok Sabha, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party has lost its own majority, signalled three trends. One, the Modi-Shah duo’s clout in the coalition government has eroded – allies Telugu Desam Party and Janata Dal (United) have made it clear they cannot now be taken for granted. Two, a combined opposition, in parliament and outside, has acquired the ability to scrutinise every decision of the regime and effectively challenge it. Three, despite such adversities, the Modi establishment is bent on going ahead with its Hindutva campaign, wherever possible.
Lifting the ban on government staff joining the RSS was the first trial balloon to gauge the mood of allies TDP, JDU and Chirag Paswan’s party. It went well with not even a whimper of protest from them. Emboldened, the regime decided to push the carefully crafted Waqf Board Bill and Broadcast Bill, which were ready even before the elections. Unexpectedly for the Modi-Shah duo, this has badly recoiled.
Great care had been taken to convince the ministers from the three alliance partners. They were separately told that the Waqf Bill was intended to provide better transparency and to clean up the administration of the Islamic charitable property. The stealth and subterfuge worked and the three allies readily agreed to support the bill. However, the TDP and Chirag Paswan later said the bill must be referred to a parliamentary committee and not hurriedly pushed through. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju then made the formal announcement agreeing to send it to a panel.
But the subterfuge continues. The committee, whose composition has been announced, was not given any terms of reference. Imperfect terms of reference could restrict its scope. According to a former secretary general of Lok Sabha, it should have been sent to a joint select committee where ministers are also present. Such committees have the power to amend a bill.
The Waqf Bill, which seeks to amend the law governing Islamic charitable property, has been sharply criticised by Muslim bodies and the Opposition. The fear is that if the bill becomes law, it will amount to handing over Waqf properties to favoured people. Provisions like inclusion of non-Muslims as members on the Waqf Board and powers granted to district collectors to decide whether a property is Waqf or not have been opposed.
For Chandrababu Naidu, support of the Muslim community is very crucial. In Andhra Pradesh, the share of the Muslim population is 12 to 13%. Muslim leaders, on their part, have thanked the TDP chief after the bill was sent to the committee.
The draft of the Broadcast Bill, equally or more draconian, has come under sharp criticism from media organisations and the big social media players. The general complaint is that it amounts to total censorship of the broadcast media. The Editors’ Guild has strongly condemned the bill. Critics fear that if passed as it is, the bill will practically bar YouTube broadcasters, restrict Web news and curb individual commentators. Fearing a massive public backlash, the government has withdrawn the draft and said it will bring a new version after wider consultations.
Mark the difference. For the past 10 years, the practice of the Modi regime was to come out with surprise legislation and get it passed within a couple of days. It cannot do so any more.
Unlike in the previous Lok Sabha, the Opposition has been able to successfully dominate Parliament proceedings. For the first time since 2014, the Opposition pinned down the government on every legislative business that came up before the two Houses. For the first time again, the government found itself on the defensive.
Debates were more deliberative, with 27 hours spent on the budget. Notably, in the Lok Sabha, the Opposition did not disturb or block proceedings. This prompted Speaker Om Birla to describe the session as the most productive in recent years.
With a strong opposition in the House, it is no longer possible for the government to bulldoze legislative business and push bills through as had happened with the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 five years ago. At the fag-end of the 17th Lok Sabha, 146 Opposition members were suspended by the Speaker. Home minister Amit Shah’s three new controversial criminal law bills — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill — were all debated and passed while the bulk of the opposition MPs remained suspended.
In the 17th Lok Sabha, only 17 of 82 bills passed had been sent to standing committees. This happened when the prime minister was boasting of 400-plus seats in the 18th Lok Sabha.
Can they do so now?
A subplot has been the Rajya Sabha chairman’s activism. “Why did Jagdeep Dhankhar get angry with the Opposition?” was the subject of a discussion on an English TV channel. Yes, this is a pertinent question.
Unlike the Lok Sabha, there was no change in the complexion of the Rajya Sabha after the June 4 election result in which the BJP won only 240 seats, losing its majority. Yet, we are in a curious situation when the chairman’s actions themselves have become news and the subject of media debate. His repartees, often angry, are in the spotlight. Twice he has had a brush with Jaya Bachchan. “I don’t want schooling,” Dhankhar told the Samajwadi Party MP on August 9. The opposition walked out, objecting to Dhankhar’s ‘tone’.
The day before, in a rare occurrence, the chairman himself walked out of the House protesting against the Opposition’s behaviour after it demanded a discussion on Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification. But, of course, he soon returned.
Reports suggest the Opposition is working on a no-trust motion to remove Dhankhar as Vice-President.
Separately, Jairam Ramesh has given notice of four privilege motions — two against the Prime Minister, and one each against ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Amit Shah. Let us see what happens to these, Ramesh quipped.
The BJP’s fall from 303 seats in the 17th Lok Sabha to 240 seats now has forced the party to be more considerate with the new allies TDP and JDU. For the first time in a decade, the allies were invited to attend a general body meeting of MPs. Some allies have been included in some of the cabinet committees. Recently, the Prime Minister reconstituted the government think tank NITI Ayog and included H.D. Kumaraswami, Jitan Ram Manjhi and Lalan Singh as special invitees.
But there is no any let-up in the hate campaign. Bulldozers are at work in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. Two churches were razed at Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh on charges of encroachment. Right in Delhi, the DDA cited legal violations and demolished a mosque on June 21. Before that, the Akhonji Masjid was demolished in Mehrauli. And the Sunehri Bagh Masjid faces demolition.
Hindutva mobs destroyed a mosque, madrasas and houses in Maharashtra’s Vishalgad, soon after a mob had attacked a madrasa at Medak in Telangana. In Uttar Pradesh, an inter college at Bilhaur in Kanpur imposed a ban on wearing the hijab inside the college.
Last month, Uttar Pradesh amended the anti-conversion law to make it more stringent. It is also planning to revive the anti-Romeo squad, which was seen as another tool to harass Muslims youth.
In his Independence Day speech, the Prime Minister made a strong pitch for a Uniform Civil Code, projecting it as “secular” and describing the current civil code as “communal”. State governments run by the BJP were already pursuing the agenda. After Uttarakhand last year, Gujarat, Assam and Rajasthan have announced their decision to introduce a uniform code. But Modi’s speech made it clear that he does not want to leave the issue just to the state governments.
The Red Fort speech also pushed for another pet project of Modi – one nation, one election. Describing frequent polls as a hurdle to progress, the Prime Minister called upon the nation to come forward to realise the dream of simultaneous elections to Parliament and all the state Assemblies. Just a day later, the Election Commission announced the dates for elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana but cited security, festivals and rain as reasons for not holding the polls in Maharashtra simultaneously.
