With the second part of the extended Budget Session to end in just a few days, the government’s hopes of pushing through Parliament a large number of the nearly 40 pending bills look dim. Among the bills (besides the GST Bill, pending in the Rajya Sabha) that need to be passed by both Houses are the Negotiable Instruments Bill, the the Minor, Small and Medium Industries Bill, the Black Money Bill, the Child Labour (Amendment) Bill, National Waterways Bill, and the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill. Many of these affect the lives of the poor and people in the unorganised sector.
The whistle-blowers whose lives are in danger will also have to wait for legal protection if the bill is not passed. However, the Congress seems determined to disrupt Parliament. That the party is serious is underlined by the fact that it issued a three-line whip to ensure that all its MPs are present in both Houses.
The party, along with some other Opposition members, have found a convenient issue to choke Parliament proceedings, namely the corruption issue relating to Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s business dealings flagged by the CAG in its latest report. Parliament got a taste of this on Friday as the Opposition parties demanded Mr Gadkari’s resignation. However, it seems hardly likely that the government will sacrifice Mr Gadkari as it defended him even when the issue was raised earlier. The Congress, in principle, is not against the Goods and Services Tax, but, as a matter of political tit-for-tat, it does not want the bill that sailed through the Lok Sabha to clear the Rajya Sabha.
