Parliament set to see a stormy Budget Session
NEW DELHI: Seventeen opposition parties on Thursday announced that they will boycott President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to both houses of Parliament on Friday, the inaugural day of the Budget Session, to protest against three contentious farm laws passed by the Centre, setting the stage for a confrontation with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Only Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will not take part in the boycott, which parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said the Opposition should reconsider.
“I appeal to leaders from all parties not to boycott the President’s address. The government is ready to discuss all issues threadbare and as much time as is required will be set aside when the business advisory committees of both Houses meet,” Joshi said.
Opposition parties intend to demand the repeal of the three farm laws passed in September that seek to ease restrictions in farm trade, allow traders to stockpile large quantities of food stocks for future sales and lay down a national framework for contract farming based on written agreements. Farmers say the laws will erode their bargaining power and leave them at the mercy of powerful agribusinesses.
Opposition parties will use the Budget Session to target the government on its handling of the Covid-19-ravaged economy and the India-china border staff.the parties announced full support to farmers, claimed the government played a “nefarious role in orchestrating” the violence that marred protest rallies by farmers on Republic Day and said their main aim in the session would be to have the laws repealed.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who will chair an all-party meeting on Friday, said that the session will offer “ample opportunity” for MPS to raise issues. “This will be a long session with Question Hour and Zero Hour. The lawmakers will get enough opportunities to raise all issues. Disrupting the session will not benefit them,” Birla said, pointing out that the debate on the President’s address allows MPS to raise “any issue under the sun”.
The session will run from January 29 to April 8 with a recess from February 15 to March 7. The budget is to be presented in Parliament by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1.
Leader of the Opposition in
the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress, reached out to different political party leaders on behalf of Congress president Sonia Gandhi to bring them together on the farmers’ issues. BSP chief Mayawati refused to come on board, but the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Left parties, Nationalist Congress Party, National Conference, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Indian Union Muslim League, Peoples Democratic Party, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam , Kerala Congress (Mani) and All India United Democratic Front have joined hands. Later, the Aam Aadmi Party also said it will boycott the address.
This is the first time in recent history that nearly the entire Opposition will boycott the President’s customary address to Parliament at the beginning of the first session every year. In 2019, the Opposition skipped Kovind’s special address to a joint sitting on the occasion of Constitution Day. “The PM and the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] government remain arrogant, adamant and undemocratic in their response (to farmers’ protests). Shocked by this insensitivity of the Government, we, the following opposition political parties, reaffirming the collective demand for the repeal of the Anti Farmer Laws and in solidarity with the Indian Farmers, have decided to boycott the President’s address to both the Houses of Parliament on Friday, January 29, 2021,” a joint statement signed by all parties said.
“The three Farm Laws are an assault on the rights of the States and violate the federal spirit of the Constitution. If not repealed, these Laws will effectively dismantle the edifice of National Food Security that rests upon MSPS, [minimum support prices], government procurement and Public Distribution System (PDS),” the statement added.
With the farm laws emerging as the glue between parties with diverse a outlook, opposition leaders will strive for effective coordination, keeping the upcoming assembly poll dynamics on the back-burner.
The Congress and Trinamool, the two key Opposition parties, are rivals in poll-bound West Bengal. CM and Trinamool head Mamata Banerjee has called a party meeting on Friday to chalk out the party’s parliamentary strategy. While the Opposition will focus on farm issues, the government wants to replace four ordinances — the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020; the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance. 2020; the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, and the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020. It will also push a data protection bill and the DNA technology regulation bill.