Even as the Opposition ensured it kept up the pressure on the government by refusing to let the Rajya Sabha function and walking out of the Lok Sabha, nine Opposition parties on Friday proposed a way out of the impasse: A joint resolution condemning inflammatory speeches.
On the issue following use of swear words by Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday made a statement in the Lok Sabha, urging members to remember Jyoti was a first-time minister who was a woman and came from a “rural background”. The statement was echoed by several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, who laid stress on her backward “Dalit” identity.
The BJP-led government has so far rejected the suggestion of a joint resolution. But, with crucial Bills like those for amendments to the insurance and coal laws lined up, and the Rajya Sabha chair urging the government to have a dialogue with the Opposition parties over the weekend, the government might have little choice but to meet the Opposition parties halfway.
From demanding an outright sacking of the errant minister, the Opposition has yielded a little and is now ready to settle for a joint resolution, an idea first proposed by the Business Advisory Committee and rejected by the government. Led by the Congress, nine Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha — the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Janata Dal (United), Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam and Nationalist Congress Party — are signatory to a joint statement calling for a Motion of Censure.
“We again appeal to the government to accept a joint resolution condemning the attempts to outrage our Constitution by making inflammatory speeches aimed at dividing the syncretic, socio-cultural mosaic of our country's rich diversity,” the joint statement said. The Opposition was even agreeable to not naming the minister concerned in the censure motion.
Earlier in the day, before Parliament assembled in the morning, Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha, along with Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, wore black masks and protested in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statute. The black masks were meant to signify their voices were being muzzled.
Gandhi told reporters: “The attitude of the government is not to allow a democratic process in the House.”
Modi, who had made a statement in the Rajya Sabha the previous day and said he disapproved of the words used by the minister, on Friday made a brief statement in the Lok Sabha to express his gratitude to the House for continuing to conduct its business (BJP enjoys an overwhelming majority in the Lower House). Modi said: "The minister concerned apologised. She is a first-time member and comes from a rural background."
The proceedings in the Rajya Sabha were washed out for a fourth straight day on Friday and several Union ministers made it a point to highlight the country was watching how the Opposition had held the House to ransom.
Countering this charge, the joint statement claimed "the sincerity of the Opposition in running the House smoothly and allowing business to be conducted has been displayed by the fact that within two days five legislation have been considered and adopted by the Rajya Sabha."
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