A bitter winter session of Parliament, marked by acrimony between the government and Opposition, protests and counter protests over Union home minister Amit Shah’s comment on BR Ambedkar, the first attempt in Independent India to remove the vice-president, a landmark debate on 75 years of the Constitution, and ugly scenes that led to a flurry of police complaints and privilege notices, closed on Friday.
The session also recorded the introduction of two landmark bills on simultaneous polls, which were referred to a 39-member Joint Parliament Committee (JPC). The JPC on the Waqf (Amendment) bill, set up in August, was also given an extension.
The final day of the winter session saw protests by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) atParliament complex against Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and a counter protest march by the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) from Vijay Chowk to Parliament over Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar earlier this week.
This came a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress accused each other of assault and shoving, and filed contrasting police complaints in what marked an unparalleled deterioration of decorum in Parliament.
Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju criticised the Opposition for disrupting the proceedings, which he said resulted in a decline in Parliament’s productivity. “The productivity of Parliament went down due to disturbances created by the Opposition. We tried a lot to ensure the smooth functioning of Parliament. I expect and request the Opposition not to create similar disruptions in the Budget session,” he said.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die minutes after the House adopted the resolution to set up a joint parliamentary committee to scrutinise two bills that aim to usher in simultaneous state and national elections. Opposition members trooped into the Well of the House and shouted Jai Bhim slogans.
“It is a collective responsibility of all Members to maintain the dignity and decorum of Parliament. It is not appropriate to stage dharnas or demonstrations at any of the gates of Parliament.” LS Speaker Om Birla said in his valedictory address.
His comments came a day after the ruling party alleged that Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi shoved and hurt at least one lawmaker while injuring a second even as the Congress refuted the allegations and said BJP legislators blocked Gandhi’s way and pushed Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, injuring him in the knee. Birla said that “in case of violation of norms, Parliament has the right to take necessary action to maintain its decorum and dignity” as he urged MPs “to ensure compliance with the rules in all circumstances.”
The productivity of the Lok Sabha stood at 57.87% and of the Rajya Sabha at 40%.
The Upper House was also adjourned sine die after adoption of a motion to nominate 12 members to the JPC examining the two bills on simultaneous polls.
“The stark reality is troubling, this session’s productivity stands at a mere 40.03%, with just 43 hours and 27 minutes of effective functioning. As parliamentarians, we are drawing severe criticism from the people of India and rightfully so. These persistent disruptions are steadily eroding public trust in our democratic institutions,” Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said, a day after his deputy Harivansh dismissed the Opposition’s notice for a motion of no-confidence against him.
“The growing trend of publicising notices through media before parliamentary consideration and recourse to Rule 267 further undermines our institutional dignity. We stand at a critical crossroads, the 1.4 billion citizens of Bharat expect better from us. It is time to choose between meaningful debate and destructive disruption. Our democratic legacy demands we rise above political differences and restore the sanctity of parliamentary discourse,” he added in his valedictory remarks.
In the Lower House, BJP member Nishikant Dubey moved a privilegenoticeagainst Rahul Gandhi demanding his immediate suspension for his “dastardly conduct” of sharing a “criminally edited” clip of Shah on X. Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said a similar motion was moved against Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. The development came a day after Kharge moved a privilege motion against Shah alleging contempt of the House.
“This time he (Gandhi) has surpassed all limits of sensible behaviour expected from the LoP of Lok Sabha and thus committed the offence of ‘Breach of Parliamentary Privileges’ and ‘Contempt of the House’ which calls for exemplary punishment,” Dubey said. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Lok Sabha official said more than a dozen privilege motions are pending against various leaders.
The Congress rejected the BJP’s charge and accused it of trying to suppress the Opposition’s voice. “They [BJP] have to understand that there is an Opposition in Parliament ,which is equally strong and they have to respect its voice. They are not ready to respect the voice of the Opposition, they want to bulldoze things, they do not want any kind of dialogue with the opposition,” Congress leader Manickam Tagore said.
The controversy came against the backdrop of a raging row over Shah’s comments on Ambedkar earlier this week. During his reply to the debate marking 75 years of the Constitution on Tuesday, Shah had attacked the Congress and alleged the opposition party repeatedly disrespected Ambedkar. “It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar…If they had taken God’s name so many times, they would have secured a place in heaven for seven lifetimes…” he said.
The INDIA bloc parties shared clips of the first part of his statement, demanding Shah’s resignation and an apology for what they alleged was an insult to the framer of the Constitution. The BJP dismissed the Congress’s allegations with Modi accused the Congress of spreading malicious lies to hide its misdeeds and Shah accusing the Congress of “distorting” his statement to create an “illusion” that he insulted Ambedkar.
The session began on November 25 as the Opposition attempted to corner the government over allegations of corruption against the Adani Group in the US. But after most of the first week was washed out., the Congress found itself increasingly isolated and disruptions petered out. Lok Sabha passed three bills – including The Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024 – and the Rajya Sabha passed three, including The Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill, 2024. The highlight of the session was the introduction of two bills – The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill – that were sent to JPC after the Opposition forced voting over the scope of the bills’ introduction. The bills propose the alignment process to begin in 2029 and the first simultaneous elections in 2034.
The constitutional amendment bill will be a big test of the BJP’s ability to swing support in its favour as the ruling dispensation doesn’t have enough numbers to push a Constitution amendment in either House of Parliament. Article 368, which governs Constitutional amendments, mandates that such a bill is passed “in each House by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting.”
The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha also held special debates to mark 75 years of the Constitution, where the government accused the Congress of undermining the Constitution and the INDIA bloc alleged that the BJP was working against vulnerable communities. The marathon debates saw all top leaders including Modi, Shah, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and health minister JP Nadda participate. The two LoPs — Kharge in the Rajya Sabha and Gandhi in the Lok Sabha — along with newly-elected Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi and Abhishek Singhvi from the Congress, and Akhilesh Yadav from the Samajwadi Party were among those who took part from the Opposition .
It was Priyanka Gandhi’s debut session in Parliament.
“We should have worked as much as we could for the country and left no stone unturned in service to the nation. But we have seen such activities in Parliament which have affected the work and also damaged the dignity of the Parliament. Members of the opposition parties have hindered our work progress due to which the productivity rate has reduced considerably,” Rijiju said.
The Congress rejected Rijiju’s charge. “For us, Parliament’s productivity was 100% because today the entire country knows what the Union Home Minister and Narendra Modi think about Dr Ambedkar. We assess the Parliament’s productivity by the intention of the government. Union Home Minister has insulted Babasaheb Ambedkar. I have complained to the Chairman (Rajya Sabha) that it has been 72 hours since Finance Minster, Nadda Saheb and Union Home Minister made allegations against Pandit Nehru which could not be authenticated. They won’t be able to authenticate it,” Congress’s Jairam Ramesh said.
