BackNDA on a high after passage of key bills
Even with one week remaining, this session is already being seen as the most successful of Narendra Modi's two-year rule
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New Delhi: The monsoon session of Parliament enters its last week on Monday, having scored several legislative and political successes that make it one of the most satisfying for the Narendra Modi-led government.
The timing of the monsoon session too has hit a sweet spot—the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is in the midst of celebrating two years in government.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the ruling alliance, managed to get crucial legislation passed, succeeded in divide the opposition and also isolated the Congress party in the Rajya Sabha.
The government’s biggest success was in persuading the main opposition party to change its stand on the enabling constitution amendment bill for the goods and services tax (GST), which was passed last week.
Political tussles in the past three weeks were not allowed to affect the legislative agenda and Parliament’s productivity remained high at 99% for the Lok Sabha and 96% for the Rajya Sabha.
While a week of work remains, some of the important bills passed in the session include: The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill (CAMPA), 2015, by the Rajya Sabha and The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2012, as well as The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill, 2015, by both the Houses.
The high productivity and passage of key bills, especially in the Rajya Sabha, where the NDA is in a minority, is significant given the number of serious issues confronting lawmakers, including violence against Dalits, unrest in Kashmir, grant of special status to Andhra Pradesh, the constitutional crisis in Uttarakhand and Manipur, and price rise.
“The government under Prime Minister Modi had made it clear that the constitutional amendment bill on GST will be passed only when most of the parties agree to it and there is consensus. The government managed to achieve its target. While all issues raised by the opposition have been discussed in both the Houses, there was no disruption and legislative business was not affected," said a senior NDA minister involved in parliamentary strategy. The minister spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Congress party feels that it supported the GST bill because some of its key concerns were addressed by the government in the amended draft and, according to senior party leaders, the swift legislative business in the ongoing session happened because opposition parties were taken on board on a series of issues.
“The GST is definitely a big legislative push and the Congress gave its key support to it after our main concerns were addressed. As far as a productive session is concerned, the Congress has never opposed for the sake of opposing. If we see a genuine cause, we raise it. For legislative cooperation on significant bills, the government needs to reach out to opposition parties and take them on board," a senior Congress leader from the Rajya Sabha said, requesting anonymity.
Senior ministers held a series of meetings and consultations with the Congress as well as other opposition and friendly parties on the GST as well as the CAMPA bills.
Political analysts feel that the passage of the GST bill is the Modi government’s single biggest accomplishment on the economic reforms front.
“I would say this has been the most productive and successful Parliament session under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The passage of the GST is the first feather in Modi’s cap as far as big-ticket economic reform is concerned. It is a landmark legislation which was passed in this session where we hardly saw any major disruption, making it one of the most productive Parliament sessions in the last two years," said Manisha Priyam, a New Delhi-based political analyst.
“For two sides which sparred over the accordance of leader of opposition status in the beginning, the legislative coordination has come a long way forward. No one will ever know what was the real turning point, but in my opinion, this is not short-lived and the cooperation will happen on most key issues and legislation," she added.
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