Three days into the Monsoon Session and Parliament has not functioned as it should. It is extremely disheartening to witness the behaviour of the opposition, which goes against the basic norms of conduct and the purposes of having a democratically elected representative body. The ruckus being created over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) by the Election Commission in Bihar is part of a deliberate strategy to disturb the functioning of both Houses of Parliament, and not a spontaneous outburst that may happen during a heated debate. Opposition members are coming prepared with placards and not even notionally giving an opportunity to the Lok and Rajya Sabhas to function.
It is clear that the intention is not to debate an issue, which is not even directly in the remit of Parliament, but to influence the politics of Bihar where assembly elections are due. The message being sought to be conveyed is that the ECI is working at the behest of the central government to rig the voters’ lists by disenfranchising the STs, SCs, OBCs and minorities. Of course, the hard statistics already announced by the Election Commission present a different story, which would become amply evident if there were actually a debate on the issue. How can, for instance, 18 lakh deceased voters be retained on the lists? Or the 26 lakh who have shifted to other constituencies? Or the 7 lakh who are enrolled in two constituencies? The message being conveyed to any rational person is that it is these discrepancies that benefit the opposition parties. Whatever doubts there have been regarding the procedure being adopted have been already addressed by the Supreme Court.
The ruling NDA does not wish to debate the issue on a priority basis, because the initial exercise will be completed by 25 July. It will be in a better position to present the government’s case once even more comprehensive data becomes available. Basically, it is required to provide the ECI the constitutional protections necessary to do its job. When it comes to presenting its case, the ECI is fully capable of doing so. As such, the commotion in Parliament is merely an attempt to misdirect voters in Bihar and, also, to obtain an excuse should the opposition suffer a defeat as it did in earlier state elections. This is a loser’s strategy, but only repeated defeats can drive home that lesson. Meanwhile, West Bengal is next in line for a clean-up!
