Opinion Inside, not outside

The government is yet to make a persuasive case in defence of its ministers, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi still to break his silence on the controversies that surround them.

The monsoon session is stalled over the Congress-led Opposition’s clamour for the resignations of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The government is yet to make a persuasive case in defence of its ministers, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi still to break his silence on the controversies that surround them. The Opposition, especially the Congress and the Left, has made their resignations a precondition for Parliament to function. But with only 10 days left for the session to conclude, it is time for both sides to confront a larger question: How long can Parliament be stalled and paralysed on this issue?

Is the Congress willing to write off this entire session? And if the BJP doesn’t relent, is it prepared for another session to be laid waste too? The Congress rightly points out that the BJP did it too — when in opposition, it had all too often resorted to parliamentary disruption. But this can be poor justification for its own abdication of responsibilty as the main party of the Opposition. It is also time for it to question the wisdom of a strategy that ensures that discussion on crucial issues of propriety and conflicts of interest does not enter the House. Now, the speaker’s suspension of 25 Congress MPs for “persistently, wilfully obstructing the House” has come as a rebuke and also reduced the main opposition party’s already paltry numbers in the Lok Sabha. But if the Congress needs to pause and reflect on the diminishing returns of following the BJP example, the BJP must ask itself if it is doing all it can to break the impasse in the House. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu has reportedly suggested that the prime minister could speak on the matter in the event of a discussion in Parliament. Why cannot the government, then, go further? It could formally assure the Opposition of a prime ministerial intervention if it comes back to the House. Because it is, above all, the responsibility of the government to ensure the smooth conduct of Parliament.

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This is not the time for the ruling party to fling the threat of cutting the pay of protesting MPs. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s criticism of the Congress’s approach towards the goods and services tax bill may also have come at an inopportune moment — on the eve of an all-party meeting called to work through the parliamentary impasse. The BJP must remember that in the absence of a majority in the Rajya Sabha, it cannot shirk the imperative of reaching out and building bridges — even in difficult moments.