“What the BJP needs to understand is that a budget session is the most important of all sessions and it would be a deficiency of thought on the party’s part to say that we are utilizing the session as a nursery for the new members.”
Is it a trend?
“It is too early to say anything. There has to be some major legislation or policy announcement for the opposition to make a noise. Most discussions till now have been around topical issues,” said Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president, Centre for Policy Research, a Delhi-based think tank.
“Of course, the BJP is in disarray. They have to clear their internal confusion before they take on the government. Further, immediately after you lose an election, you don’t quite feel entitled to make so much noise... However, it is too early to say anything yet... Even in the Budget, there weren’t any huge issues over which people could scream... There were no major policy announcements.”
BJP leaders, meanwhile, continue to defend themselves.
“This is the first session and the first Budget of the newly-elected government and they should ideally be given time to chart out their action plan. We are a responsible opposition and also understand that we have a crucial role to play,” said deputy leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and BJP leader S.S. Ahluwalia.
Meanwhile, some Congressmen, including a Union minister, privately admit that the BJP’s lacklustre approach in the House would “smoothen things for the Treasury benches.” But publicly, the party says that the BJP’s role is crucial.
“The concept of opposition stems out of the British idea of ‘her majesty’s loyal opposition’. The role of the opposition is to question the government and the BJP should do it constructively,” said Congress MP Manish Tewari.
Leaders of the CPM, which finds its strength drastically reduced to 16 MPs from 42 (excluding the speaker) in the last House, agree that the BJP has been maintaining an unusually low profile in this session.
“Since the beginning of this Lok Sabha, we have observed that the BJP is not playing the role it did earlier and is changing its attitude towards the government,” said Basudeb Acharia, leader of the CPM in the House.
ruhi.t@livemint.com
Liz Mathew contributed to this story.