Day one of the no-confidence debate in the Lok Sabha was full of sound and fury and although in the beginning it seemed that it would signify little, by the end of the day, it sent three key signals. One, increased bitterness between the Government and the Opposition, likely to get sharper in the build-up to the polls; two, the Congress-led Opposition trying to fire at the NDA with spent bullets. And, three, the realization in the NDA that Sonia Gandhi’s is the face of the Opposition. In fact, given the timing of the no-confidence motion—Chandra Shekhar pointedly asked why it wasn’t brought during the Gujarat riots—it was clear that both sides, breaking up before the polls in the four states, wanted to draw the battlelines. Watched by her senior party leaders and daughter Priyanka Gandhi from the galleries, she rattled off a list of ‘‘charges,’’ that have been virtually hammered into cliches by her party spokesmen over the last months, even years. Still, she did display a new self-confidence—first, through short deviations from the text in her speech, and later, through pointed interventions during the subsequent speech of Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani. But then an indiscreet remark involving the Emergency sent her on the defensive. Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes led the counter-offensive with the Prime Minister still in reserve to join the verbal battle tomorrow. For Fernandes, the motion was a blessing in disguise as he at last got a chance to join issue with the Congress over a whole of range of charges against him. He could seek some comfort from the fact that the Opposition stood divided because of him: the Left and the RJD walked out while Congress members stayed to hear him out. What was clear, however, as the day progressed was that the gloves were off. Govt MPs frequently interrupted and heckled Sonia, Opposition members challenged Advani and Fernandes on virtually every count. So while Congress members taunted Advani by mentioning the Babri Masjid demolition and the Gujarat riots, BJP members retaliated by reminding Sonia about Subramaniam Swamy, obviously alluding to the antique smuggling case filed by him. Her reference to the petrol pump allotment scandal led to chants — ‘‘Satish Sharma, Satish Sharma’’ — by BJP members. Making it clear that the no-confidence motion wasn’t about parties or numbers, Sonia said that the Government’s ‘‘days are numbered.’’ She charged the Government with all-round failure: corruption, jeopardising national security and denigration of key institutions of parliamentary democracy. ‘‘Our indictment is comprehensive,’’ she said, ‘‘just as their failures are complete.’’ The motion, she claimed, was borne out of a ‘‘genuine disquiet over the capricious way in which this government is conducting the business of governance.’’ The blotter was complete: she pulled up the Government over the PAC not getting the CVC defence report, the petrol pump allotment scam, the Delhi land allotment scam, Best Bakery case acquittals, Gujarat riots, Taj corridor scandal, stock market and UTI scandals and ‘‘systematic attempts to derail the inquiry’’ into the Tehelka expose. Referring to operation Sarp Vinash, she said switching to Hindi: Pehle, aapne khub sarp ko ghusne diya, phir vinashki sochi (first, you allowed the snake to enter, then you thought of destroying it). Taking a dig at the Government stance on the women’s reservation issue, she said it was now more than clear that the government had no intention whatsoever in getting the Bill passed. She said, ‘‘If it had, it could have done so with our support any day. A government that wilfully destroys national consensus in every other area suddenly discovers the virtues of a consensus on this issue. This is simply a pretext for inaction. All of us women know it. Sushmaji don’t you agree?’’ This provoked Swaraj to come out with a repartee. She said, ‘‘Lalooji and Mulayamji are on on your side.’’ Alleging ‘‘blatant politicisation’’ of the CBI on the Ayodhya issue, Sonia said it was a matter of shame that the conspiracy charges against the prime accused which included two senior ministers of the government were dropped. She attacked disinvestment by saying: ‘‘This is not a case of family silver being sold. It is almost being gifted away at throw-away prices to a handful of favoured individuals.’’ Advani started off by taking at a dig at the opposition for its failure to name its leader who could replace Vajpayee as Prime Minister. He quoted from The Indian Express articles of Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie as well as another newspaper article by filmstar Amitabh Bachchan to underline how India’s prestige had gone up. He described the 1998 Pokharan nuclear tests as ‘‘a turning point’’ in enhancing India’s prestige internationally. Sonia interjected to remind him that the first test was carried out ‘‘during Indiraji’s rule.’’ Advani said the Vajpayee government ensured free and fair elections in Jammu and Kashmir and said it was ironical that the party which kept people in the jail for 19 months was talking of democracy today. On the women’s reservation, he offered to accept any of the three draft bills if there was a consensus. This prompted Congress deputy leader Shivraj Patil to declare that his party was willing to back the government. Referring to Sonia’s concern about the country’s security, he appealed to her amid strong protests by Congress member S Jaipal Reddy ‘‘not to direct your chief ministers against implementing POTA.’’
