Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 3: Even as the Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the controversial Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Amendment Bill, 2023, popularly known as Delhi services bill, by a voice vote amidst vociferous protests from the opposition benches, the Opposition is learnt to have offered a “middle path solution” to the government to kick-start a discussion on Manipur unrest and end the current logjam in the functioning of Parliament.
“INDIA parties have offered a middle path solution to the Leader of the House to break the logjam and get a discussion on Manipur going in an uninterrupted manner in the Rajya Sabha. Hope the Modi government agrees,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted on X this afternoon.
Over the past two weeks, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have seen repeated disruptions over a disagreement between the Opposition and treasury benches on the rule under which the situation in the north-eastern state should be discussed. The Opposition had been insisting that the discussion on Manipur be held under Rule 267, which provides for suspension of all business to take up key issues. The government, on the other hand, wanted a short duration discussion under Rule 176.
The Opposition Thursday conceded a bit, dropping its demand for a discussion on Manipur under Rule 267, and for a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament to precede it, but threw another googly at the government.
It suggested that the government hold the discussion under a rule which involves a motion, the wording of which could be the next bone of contention. Eventually, the stalemate continued on Thursday, and the House remained disrupted.
The recalibration in the Opposition stand followed a meeting of the parties in the morning where, sources said, some Congress leaders joined calls for a middle path to end the logjam. At least one senior leader is learnt to have said the government was using the logjam to pass Bills, including crucial ones, and that the Opposition members were not getting a chance to present their “critical” views.
Soon after the Rajya Sabha met on Thursday, the Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien told the House: “Even though we do believe 267 supersedes all the other rules… but that is not the issue. The issue is that the people of the country want to hear us on Manipur (and) we, as the Opposition, want this discussion. We are not here to show ego or arrogance. I will appeal through you to the Leader of the House for a solution because this logjam is helping nobody. Manipur has to be discussed for six to eight hours, let us discuss it in the spirit of one nation.”
With the ruckus however continuing, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said he would meet floor leaders to find a way out. The Government’s floor managers – Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi – met Opposition parties at the chamber of the Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge.
In the meeting, the Opposition leaders formally proposed that the government hold a discussion under Rule 167, which deals with “discussion on a matter of public interest.” The Opposition leaders also showed the government side the text of the debate held in 2002 under Rule 167 on the Gujarat riots.
The signal was that the Opposition was ready to drop its demand for a discussion invoking Rule 267 – which would entail discussion suspending other business – and that this be preceded by a statement by the PM. Goyal, according to Opposition sources, told them that in principle it was a good idea.
The government had earlier said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah will address Parliament on the situation In Manipur, where ethnic violence has claimed more than 100 lives in the past two months. The Opposition, however, insisted that it is the Prime Minister who should address the Parliament.
Sources said a group of Opposition leaders have already prepared a draft of the motion to be moved in the House. Opposition leaders said they asked Goyal and Joshi to take up the discussion immediately, but that the ministers told them Home Minister Amit Shah was not available Thursday since the Lok Sabha was discussing the NCT Bill.
Asked why the parties blinked over Rule 267, an opposition leader said: “Why should we alone bear the responsibility for the logjam?… In fact, we got them where we wanted them to be. We offered them a middle path solution. But they could not start a discussion immediately.”
