Oppn hits back after govt says no to winter session

Parliamentary affairs minister says decision taken in view of pandemic, calls for early Budget Session

NEW DELHI: The government has said the Winter Session of Parliament will not be held this year in view of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic and that it will be appropriate to convene the Budget Session in January next year, even as the Opposition attacked the Centre for not consulting them before announcing such a move.

In a letter to leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said, “Winter months are very crucial for managing the pandemic because of recent spurt in cases during this period, particularly in Delhi. At present, we are in the middle of December and a covid vaccine is expected very soon.”

The minister said he had informally contacted floor leaders of various political parties and “they have expressed their concerns about the ongoing pandemic and opined of doing away with winter session”.

The opposition parties alleged that they were not consulted by the government over its move to scrap the Winter Session, insisting that Parliament should meet to discuss the ongoing farmers’ protests over the three controversial agriculture laws.

Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Jairam Ramesh took to Twitter to say that Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad was not consulted by the government on the issue.

“Mr Pralhad Joshi is as usual departing from the truth,” Ramesh tweeted.

When asked if his party had been consulted on the issue, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien replied, “Consulted? Are you joking?”

Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi also attacked the government over its move. “As per GoI (Government of India), elections can happen, election rallies can happen, schools can reopen, colleges can conduct exams, hotels and restaurants can be opened, fitness centres too. The only place considered most dangerous by GoI in India is its Parliament, hence no session,” she tweeted.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik also said Parliament should sit for a Winter Session even for a short duration. “Not holding the winter session and evading questions is not right for democracy.

Opposition parties and farmers are demanding that the session should be held even if it is for two days only,” he said.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Lok Sabha member Bhagwant Mann claimed that the government is scared to hold discussion on the farmers’ issue in Parliament and has decided not to call the session. “If you do not want run Parliament then why spend thousands of crores on the new building?” he asked on Twitter.

In the past few weeks, the opposition parties have stepped up their demand for holding the Winter Session in view of the ongoing farmers’ agitation over three new farm laws, saying the government should repeal these legislations and hold fresh discussions on reforms in the agricultural sector.

Congress MPs from Punjab have been on a sit-in protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar for the past several days, urging the government to immediately convene Parliament to repeal the farm laws and discuss the farmers’ issue. They have been joined by many other Congress leaders. “Government is willing to have the next session of Parliament at the earliest; it would be appropriate to have the Budget Session, 2021 in January, 2021 keeping in mind the unprecedented circumstances created by Covid-19 pandemic,” the parliamentary affairs minister wrote in his letter to leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha.

Talking about the Monsoon Session, which was delayed due to the pandemic, he appreciated cooperation from all political parties for a productive session held under extraordinary circumstances by making special logistical arrangements.

In his reply to Chowdhury’s letter to him demanding immediate convening of the winter session to discuss the new farm laws, Joshi said that the leaders of all parties were not in favour of it due to the Covid-19 situation.

Hindustan Times was the first to report on November 16 that the rising cases of Covid-19 infections in Delhi have cast a shadow on the Winter Session, which normally begins in December, and the government is mulling to club it with the budget session that begins at the end of January. The Winter Session of Parliament normally starts from last week of November or first week of December.

The Constitution broadly stipulates one major rule that there should not be a gap of more than six months between two sessions of Parliament.

However, it has been a convention to hold three sessions of Parliament -- budget, monsoon and winter -- in a year.

THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA IS ALWAYS COMMITTED TO THE WELFARE OF THE FARMERS