The two Leaders of the Opposition, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, on Friday raised a toast to the ‘sterling performance' of their party — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — in the just-ended monsoon session of Parliament, whereas a day before the two presiding officers, Meira Kumar and Hamid Ansari, lamented the loss of precious time due to almost daily disruptions.
“We are satisfied that all the issues identified by us [the BJP]” were discussed, Ms. Swaraj said. The Opposition remained united while the “inner contradictions” in the government and the Congress stood exposed. Mr. Jaitley said that by the end of the session that started on August 1, not only the government's credibility had fallen dramatically but also a “revulsion” against it had set in among people.
Introspect: Ansari
On the other hand, Mr. Ansari had asked MPs to “introspect” on the fact that no business was transacted on 10 days and only 65 of 500 admitted questions were answered. Twenty-seven hours of allotted time for discussion were wasted and, as a result, many matters of public importance could not be taken up.
Ms. Kumar regretted that over 51 hours were lost as a result of disruptions and adjournments (mainly as a result of the BJP raising a furore over the Jantar Mantar lathicharge one day, Anna Hazare's arrest on another day, and the Gujarat Lokayukta appointment for several days).
I am sad: Bansal
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal, speaking separately, said he was sad that the Leaders of the Opposition had expressed their happiness over the manner in which Parliament functioned, In fact, disruptions stared everyone in the face, with 66 of 139 hours lost to forced adjournments and noisy scenes and on 17 out of 25 days there was no question hour. This, despite the fact that the government accepted the discussions the Opposition wanted and three of four major discussions were on corruption. Not allowing legislative business was nothing to rejoice about.
Mr. Jaitley earlier said the “defining moments” during this session were not what happened inside Parliament, but the Anna show on the Ramlila Maidan and later the “hostile reception” given to the Congress general secretary, Rahul Gandhi, and Ministers at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, where those injured during the terror blasts at the Delhi High Court were being treated.
Ms. Swaraj also mentioned the jailing of the former BJP MPs, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora, during the session in the cash-for-votes affair of 2008, and heaped praise on senior leader L.K. Advani for having the courage to “take responsibility” for this (three years after the event). Both leaders described their ex-MPs as “whistle-blowers” even as the police are waiting to arrest another party-man, sitting MP Ashok Argal.
Clean chit to MPs
Even as a Supreme Court-monitored police investigation is taking place and the matter is before a trial court, the BJP leaders pronounced their judgment: “They [Mr. Kulaste and Mr. Bhagora] never had a criminal intention to accept illegal gratification.
