Trinamool Congress has played the role of a constructive Opposition during the just-concluded Budget Session, the first parliamentary session of the second Modi Government. The other opposition parties could not go beyond frivolous arguments and getting involved in controversies. On the other hand, Trinamool Congress, by participating regularly in discussions on Bills and raising pressing issues during Zero Hour, attracted the attention of the Union government as well as the Parliament as a whole. Thus the Party has stood firm in its views.
This was the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha. It stretched across 38 working days, and the main aim of the Modi Government, behind stretching this session, was to pass as many Bills as possible, even if it was by adopting unconstitutional and unparliamentary methods, and by bulldozing the Opposition. Hence, it is obvious that despite being a long session, the standard in which it was conducted was very low.
In the 38 days, 30 Bills were passed, of which only five, or 17 per cent, were scrutinised by parliamentary committees. Therefore, the remaining 25 Bills,having not been scrutinised, were effectively forced upon the people.
This is the trademark of the BJP Government. Parliament has always had a healthy tendency of sending Bills to parliamentary committees for scrutiny. In the 14th Lok Sabha, from 2004-09, 60 per cent of the Bills were passed after coming back from parliamentary committee scrutinies. During the rule of the UPA-II Government, that number rose to 71 per cent. But the first Modi Government sent only 26 per cent of the Bills for parliamentary scrutiny, and this number dipped further in the first session of the second Modi Government.
It was in 1993 that the process of parliamentary scrutiny was started, to take suggestions from the general public. The idea was to strengthen Bills by taking ideas from their stakeholders. And it did help to improve the quality of Bills. But the NDA Government has avoided scrutiny and made parliamentary committees redundant.
It doesn’t end here. In the previous three Lok Sabhas, the ruling party did not pass a single Bill during the first sessions and neither were Standing Committees constituted. However, this government has passed 30 Bills in the 38 days of the session. 38 days, which was the combined total duration of the first and second sessions of the fourth Lok Sabha.
As a result, the question has arisen that what was the tearing hurry? The government’s excuse is that it was not possible to send Bills to the committees that had been reconstituted for the 17th Lok Sabha. But facts say otherwise. At the start of the 16th Lok Sabha, when 10 Bills were sent for scrutiny, no parliamentary committee had been constituted. In the 13th and 14th Lok Sabhas, this number was 11 and 6, respectively.
Trinamool has always played the role of a constructive Opposition. It has always wanted that the best portions of a Bill be made into law. It is expected that the Opposition and the Government should come together to build a better country. It can never be the aim to break the record for the number of Bills passed.
The Modi Government has used its brute majority to pass Bills in Parliament, but Trinamool has not taken the Centre’s meddling in the federal structure lying down. In the case of a host of Bills – UAPA, NIA, RTI, Motor Vehicles, National Medical Commission, Consumer Protection, Code on Wages, Dam Safety and Inter-State River Water Disputes – the Centre has meddled in the federal structure of the Constitution, and Trinamool has opposed them. Because of the BJP’s absolute majority, amending or opposing these Bills were of no use. However, Trinamool has kept up its constructive criticism of the Centre on these topics outside the Parliament.