India: Congress Only Believes in Disruptions Inside and Outside Parliament

With India nine months away from general elections, it is time for incumbent governments to present report cards. Opposition parties should highlight what the government might have missed and lay out an alternative model of development before the people. 

But the Congress-led opposition has ended up being a drag on the country’s development. Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change; & Labor and Employment, highlighted the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which wrapped up recently, as one of the examples when the opposition tried to derail the democratic systems in place. 

He quoted BR Ambedkar, one of the architects of the Indian Constitution, saying that debates in Parliament are a vital part of the democratic process. “They help to ensure that the laws are made in the best interests of the people.” Yadav believes Parliament is a place where dissent is welcome and wanted, but the Congress-led opposition only believes in disruptions, both inside and outside Parliament. 

The minister said the opposition has remained absent from all discussions in the Parliament, barring the one on the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill 2023. “Had the future of their coalition not depended on participation in the NCT (Amendment) Bill, the Congress and its allies would have spent time giving sound bites to television channels outside Parliament instead of participating in the debate.” 

Yadav says the Congress has been unable to overcome its loss in 2014 and 2019, and has not participated in any parliamentary discussion constructively for the last nine years. It brought in the No-Confidence Motion without having any confidence in the motion. He pointed out that all governments in healthy democracies must be held to account. “None less than Prime Minister Narendra Modi has welcomed questions on his government’s performance. So the argument for holding the government to account was noble. The same, however, wasn’t true for its intent. The opposition chose to walk out of the discussion on the trust vote.”

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The National General Secretary of the BJP believes that the opposition, since 2014, has picked up one issue after another only to stall Parliament. The Congress chose Manipur and kept shifting its position to avoid any meaningful debate on the matter. It stalled proceedings on the ground and demanded that discussion on Manipur be held under Rule 267 and not Rule 176. 

When the government was ready for a discussion on the matter, the Congress again shifted its position and demanded for PM Modi to be present in the debate. Yadav said it was ironic that the Congress was not even present in Parliament when the discussion on Manipur was initiated. He accused the opposition of lacking imagination and constructive politics, which is detrimental to democracy. 

The minister accused the Congress-led opposition of confusing voters and misleading the country. “A nation of 140-crore aspirations has no room for this negative politics.”