Lok Sabha to hold special discussion on 150 years of 'Vande Mataram', electoral reforms next week

New Delhi: Breaking the deadlock in Parliament over a discussion on the Special Intensive Revision process of the Election Commission, lawmakers from both the government and the Opposition agreed to go ahead with a debate on the issue. As per the agreement, a special discussion on 150 years of national song Vande Mataram will take place on Monday and go on for 10 hours; to be initiated by PM Modi. The Lower House will also hold a discussion on electoral reforms on Tuesday for 10 hours.

The agreement came at a meeting of floor leaders of Opposition parties at Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s office, followed by a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the Lok Sabha.

The Opposition agreed to a climb-down on the matter and ceded to the government’s demand for a change in the terminology from SIR to “electoral reforms”. Leaders attending the meetings said that union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will give a reply on SIR on Wednesday. The Rajya Sabha is likely to take up a similar discussion after Lok Sabha.

Union Parliamentary Affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said that the meeting was fruitful. “On December 9, there will be a discussion on electoral reforms and when we discuss reforms in elections, we can discuss any issues related to election and its process in our country. For parliamentary democracy, an election process is important,” Rijiju said.

“My special appeal to all the members, especially of the Opposition, to cooperate fully with the decision taken and we all will take part … (We must) enrich parliamentary democracy by making substantive and important contributions when discussions and debates take place,” Rijiju said.

Another meeting was held between Opposition floor leaders and Parliamentary Affairs minister Kiren Rijiju informally, but that did not lead to an agreement. Sources said that the government wanted to discuss Vande Mataram for two days while the Opposition did not want to.

Samajwadi Party’s Dharmendra Yadav said that the government could have agreed on a discussion last session. “It is a matter worth pondering that why did the government not allow for a debate last term and allow Parliament to function. It would have saved us the time of a whole session,” Yadav said after the meeting.

The government has been insisting on a discussion on Vande Mataram, and the prime minister’s remarks earlier last month alleging that the Congress cut out stanzas from the song has been largely seen as a precursor to the government’s demand.

However, the Parliament bulletin on rules, reissued by the government which states that salutations and slogans like “Thanks”, “Thank you”, “Jai Hind”, and “Vande Mataram” should not be raised, has kicked up a row. Government sources pointed out that the rules are from the tenure of Hamid Ansari.

On Tuesday, Rajya Sabha MPs Priyanka Chaturvedi and Arvind Sawant wrote to Chairman CP Radhakrishnan asking him to withdraw the circular.