Will President Help Congress Get Parliament Session Convened?
The President – who works as a mouthpiece of PM Modi – is not expected to entertain the opposition demand and in all probability the Winter Session will be held after the Gujarat election.
By Rakesh Raman
As the Indian government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is working in a totally dictatorial style, it has refused to hold the Winter Session of Parliament which normally starts around the last week of November.
The opposition party Congress today released a letter that it has written to the President of India Ram Nath Kovind urging him to direct the government to immediately convene the Winter Session which is being delayed.
It is stated in the letter that Modi government has not given any valid reason for the delay, although the government has informally stated that the delay is because of the upcoming Gujarat election, which is extremely important for both Congress and Modi’s BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party).
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Gujarat election is being considered a semi-final contest between the two parties before the final match that will happen in the form of Lok Sabha election in 2019. BJP wants to avoid the Winter Session because it will have to handle some difficult questions from the opposition which may jeopardize its political position in Gujarat.
Besides the controversial issues such as Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetization that BJP imposed during the past one year or so, the party is also facing some serious corruption and criminal allegations leveled against its leaders.
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For example, an online news site The Wire has published a report in which it has revealed numerous irregularities in the business of BJP president Amit Shah’s son Jay Amitbhai Shah.
In this case, the opposition leaders as well as those in the BJP assert that PM Modi’s BJP is using court as a weapon to attack the press freedom – which actually must be protected as per Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India.
A couple of days ago, another publication The Caravan published an investigative report about the death in mysterious circumstances of a CBI judge who was hearing the Sohrabuddin case, in which the BJP president Amit Shah was the prime accused.
As BJP will not be handle all these issues in the Parliament and the discussion in the Winter Session will weaken its position in Gujarat, it has arbitrarily decided to defer the Session.
The Congress Party in Parliament wrote to @rashtrapatibhvn to summon the winter session of Parliament. pic.twitter.com/TAncOkMhSa
— INC Sandesh (@INCSandesh) November 23, 2017
The Congress leaders – including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Deependra Hooda – said in their letter to the President that he should direct the government to convene the session before Gujarat election.
However, the President – who works as a mouthpiece of Modi – is not expected to entertain the opposition demand and in all probability the Winter Session will be held after the Gujarat election – exactly as Modi desires.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a government’s National award-winning journalist and social activist. He has formed an environment-protection group called Green Group in Delhi. Earlier, he had been associated with the United Nations (UN) through United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development. He also runs a free school for deserving children under his NGO – RMN Foundation.
Photo courtesy: Press Information Bureau
