The boycott of Parliament by the leading opposition party during the current session has denied the nation of some meaningful debates over the issues that have precipitated its confrontation with the government, besides holding up critical pieces of legislation such as that relating to Goods and Services Tax. Normally, such a Bill would have caused stalwart parliamentarians from both sides to be at their articulate best, generating meaningful and informed debates. The efficacy of the previous session was built on cooperation between the treasury and opposition benches, which fostered some healthy debates. Yet in this session, with the opposition’s refusal to budge from its decision to block Parliament — the stalemate has persisted also due to the government’s lack of effort to address the concerns — some serious debates have instead played out on an unlikely platform, the social media. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley sought to address the Congress’s opposition to the GST Bill through a post. Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar responded to it through his own blog-post on a news website. Mr. Jaitley responded to Mr. Aiyar’s critique through yet another post, asking specifically whether the Rajya Sabha leader’s concern about the need to include liquor and tobacco in the GST list was justified. The edginess in the debates and the insinuations apart, the fact that senior politicians of the two largest political parties took to debating on policy matters on a point-by-point basis on new media points to a welcome trend. If at all, this reinforces the need for direct debates in the House, with both the government and the opposition shedding their truculence.
On the GST Bill, the concerns raised by the opposition and the responses by the government suggest that there is enough scope to finalise a mutually agreeable legislation. The chief concern — and a legitimate one — raised is that the Finance Minister has proposed a 1 per cent additional levy on the supply of goods for two years. This concern is being studied by a panel led by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, who had also indicated that the levy could hurt the ‘Make in India’ programme by encouraging imports over inter-State movement of goods. Mr. Jaitley’s response to the other key Congress demand, for a constitutionally mandated 18 per cent fixed rate, putting the onus on the GST council to determine the rates, is a rational one. There are of course other differences arising from the opposition from States that have taken a lead in manufacturing, and that are not exactly unaddressed in the Bill. A deliberative exercise to thrash out these differences would clear the remaining road blocks to the passage of the Bill. What is lacking, unfortunately, is the will on both sides to end the war of attrition.
