Turbulent monsoon session ends early

NEW DELHI: The monsoon session of Parliament, characterised by strident protests by the Opposition, repeated disruptions that made it among the worst sittings in terms of time, a focused and accelerated push of key laws by the government, and plain acrimony, came to a premature end on Wednesday when it was adjourned ahead of schedule.

By legislation, it was a good session.

The government successfully managed to introduce 15 bills and get Parliament’s approval for 20, although this meant some were passed in minutes with no one other than the minister in charge speaking. By time, it was a bad session. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha functioned for just 22% and 28% of their allocated time, respectively. The Lok Sabha used just 21 hours and 14 minutes of the stipulated time of 96 hours -- the lowest since the winter session of 2016, when opposition parties took on the government over demonetisation. The Rajya Sabha used 28 hours 21 minutes out of its stipulated 102 hours. In the past 10 years, the Rajya Sabha has functioned for less than 25% of its scheduled time during only six sessions.

And in terms of acrimony, it was an ugly session that saw it all -- protests, disruption, suspensions and calls for “exemplary” punishment.

Furious and concerted protests by the Opposition -- the session saw the rare sight of coordinated action by them -against the Pegasus snooping controversy, the contentious farm laws passed last year, and the fuel price rise roiled Parliament.

The Opposition wanted a discussion on the first with Prime Minister Narendra Modi or home minister Amit Shah in the House, but got nowhere with its demand. And when the Upper House agreed to talk farming, the Opposition pointed out, it offered a generic discussion on the plight of farmers, not a specific one on the farm laws as was sought.