Halfway through the Winter Session of Parliament, circumstances are conspiring to thwart key elements of the BJP’s agenda.
The direction in which things are moving, it is more than probable that the Bill that raises the cap for foreign investment in the insurance sector may not clear Parliament in this session, although the select committee has passed it with the amendments sought by the Congress, which had fathered the legislative framework for reform in insurance when it was in power but could not push it through in Parliament on account of the BJP’s illogical obstreperousness at the time.
The present ruling party had wished to present President Obama with the insurance legislation when he visits next month as a mark of its reformist zeal, but politics suggests receding likelihood of this happening.
The Congress view seems to be that while it supports the measure, it is not its business to ensure its passage through Parliament.
It is just probable that it may have been a somewhat different story if the BJP had been politically more respectful toward the Opposition parties, especially the Congress, in spite of their reduced numbers in the Lok Sabha, and been less arrogant about shooting its ideological missiles the whole time out in the field, even when Parliament was in session.
This was a singular miscalculation on the BJP’s part when it was evident the ruling party was vulnerable on Rajya Sabha numbers.
Even if the saffron formation goes on an election winning spree, it will not be able to attain a majority in the RS until 2017, by which time political ennui could set in.
Nine parties (including the Congress), not all of which can be deemed natural allies, have already begun coordinating quite effectively at the level of Parliament.
The aim is to give the government a hard time. The shenanigans of Sangh Parivar outfits in raising the communal temperature, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi adopting an attitude of benign indifference to this, has got the Opposition’s back up.
It is hardly common for a ruling party to face concerted parliamentary opposition in the short space of six months.
For all his reputation of being a dynamic leader, Mr Modi has been slow to appraise the political reality and has failed to give leadership in Parliament in order to bring the House around to his cause.
He hardly ever comes to Parliament, and is as silent as was former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose problem was that he lacked political instincts. Such disdain of the country’s highest political forum is unprecedented, and could prove costly.
