Ambedkar, Adani, Soros, and a scuffle: Parliament Winter Session ends on stormy note

Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die today.

New Delhi: From Adani to Ambedkar via George Soros, acrimony defined the Winter Session of Parliament that concluded on Friday.

Lok Sabha functioned for 57.87 per cent or 62 hours of scheduled time in 20 days and passed four Bills while Rajya Sabha functioned for 40.03 per cent or 43:27 hours in 19 days, clearing three Bills.

Most part of the Session was disrupted over demands for discussion on Adani, Soros and Ambedkar, though a two-day debate on the Constitution too was held but things reached a crescendo in the last couple of days when MPs from both sides came close to blows during their protests on Thursday.

This session also saw the Opposition escalating their protest against Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar for his “partisan” approach by submitting a notice to remove him from the post of Vice President, a first in 72 years of Parliamentary history though it was eventually not admitted.

Besides, Parliament saw the Modi government introducing two Bills to enable simultaneous elections in the country which were sent to a Joint Committee of Parliament.

The unprecedented eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation at Makar Dwar of Parliament over Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks, which the Opposition said was “insulting” to the Dalit icon, was followed by allegations and counter allegations leading to an FIR against Rahul Gandhi.

Before Delhi Police registered a case against him on charges of assaulting two BJP MPs, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul was also accused by a Rajya Sabha woman MP of coming “very close” to her and shouting at her even as Congress denied both the allegations.

Congress, on the other hand, accused the BJP of pushing and injuring Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, and manhandling Rahul, and filed a police complaint. Rahul called the developments a “new distraction” to avoid a debate on “Narendra Modi’s friend (Adani)” to whom he was “selling India”.

The ruling NDA and an Opposition, divided over the Congress’ focus on Adani issue, started on a sour note from day one but escalated after a remark running into 11 seconds by Home Minister Amit Shah on B R Ambedkar, which was followed by a protest by both sides at Parliament entrance.

In between, the BJP tried to take control of the narrative by raising the allegation of Rahul and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi having links with US billionaire George Soros who funds organisations which it claimed supports anti-India activities.

The BJP had come to the session riding on its success in Assembly elections in Haryana in October and more recently in Maharashtra while Congress was on the backfoot in the I.N.D.I.A. bloc following its dismal performance in these states. The Opposition bloc did win Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir but it went into the accounts of regional parties.

Just before the session started, Trinamool Congress called for a change in leadership of I.N.D.I.A. and wanted its chief Mamata Banerjee to lead the coalition. She found support from some quarters, putting Congress in a fix, as voices emerged from within that the focus on the Adani issue was wrong.

Trinamool sent a strong message by not attending I.N.D.I.A. floor leaders’ meetings and protests while the Samajwadi Party kept away from joint protests as it wanted to focus on Sambhal violence. However, all came on a single platform on the no-confidence notice against Dhankhar.

As Congress leadership came under question, Shah’s remarks gave a new lease of life for the main opposition party with Rahul taking the lead in setting the narrative while Opposition parties joined in. Though Trinamool did not join Congress-led protests, it did its own protest on the issue.