Nuance needed to mend broken communication between treasury and opposition
An unprecedented mobbing of the Prime Minister’s seat in the Lok Sabha by women opposition members just ahead of his scheduled reply to the motion of thanks to the President’s address forced the adjournment of proceedings on Wednesday. Narendra Modi’s absence from the House at that moment averted any further showdown. That unfortunate episode was symptomatic of the complete breakdown of communication in the temple of democracy. An otherwise listless opposition found ammunition against the establishment in an unpublished memoir by former Chief of Army Staff M M Naravane. The book recounts the border showdown with China in Ladakh in 2020 on his watch as army chief; and how his delayed orders to deal with Chinese tanks rolling towards the Kailash range under Indian control were: “Do what you think is right.” When Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi sought to draw the attention of the House to extracts from the book published in a magazine, Speaker Om Birla invoked Rule 349 to disallow it following BJP’s objection. Clause (i) of the rule states that “a member shall not read any book, newspaper or letter except in connection with the business of the House”. However, the Congress leader refused to relent. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey muddied the waters further by listing books that show the Nehru family in poor light, though that too was disallowed.
Running Parliament is the government’s responsibility. It cannot be allowed to become dysfunctional. Such situations demand tact and nuance to find workarounds, as was done on the controversial special intensive revision of electoral rolls during the previous session. That craft was not visible this time. In the end, the Lok Sabha used up less than three hours of the allotted 18 hours for the debate before it adopted a resolution thanking the President for her address—without the Leader of the Opposition’s speech and the prime minister’s reply.
On balance, a confident executive would be expected to have a thick skin. While Rahul interpreted the message to General Naravane to act as he deemed fit as a weakness, the other view could be that the army chief was given a free hand. Both inferences are valid. It’s for the people to draw their conclusion.