Opposition, government yet to find common ground on breaking logjam as Rajya Sabha nears end

Rajya Sabha is heading into the last day of Parliament’s Monsoon Session on Friday, amid uncertainty over holding a debate on Manipur ethnic violence as both the government and the Opposition are yet to find a common ground on how to break the logjam.

The proceedings in the Upper House on Thursday initially indicated that both the sides were heading towards a compromise on the mode of debate but the ruling BJP and the Opposition slipped into a slanging match soon after.

With no forward movement, three Opposition MPs Tiruchi Siva, Elamaram Kareem and Binoy Viswam submitted notices under Rule 167 for a discussion under a motion on the Manipur issue.

Opposition made it clear that they were offering it as a “middle path”, as both sides were adamant on not allowing debate under Rule 267 (suspension of business) or Rule 176 (short duration discussion).

In the House, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said the Opposition was willing to make sacrifices for the debate but insisted on the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the debate, asking whether he was God not to come to Parliament.

Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar in the morning said all the floor leaders should sit together to find a solution and called a meeting in the afternoon before adjourning the House.

However, sources said, the meeting did not provide any breakthrough after the government “rejected” the Opposition proposal. Opposition leaders claimed they were willing to tweak their motion, which was not agreeable to the government.

The motions submitted by the three MPs expressed “deep concern and anguish” at the “perpetual lawlessness” in Manipur and said it resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives, thousands injured and around one lakh people displaced, places of worship destroyed and unprecedented violence perpetrated against women “owing to the breakdown of constitutional machinery”.

Sources said the government was not agreeable with the choice of words like “breakdown of constitutional machinery”.

In the afternoon, Dhankhar told the House that his perception about the meeting was that it was moving forward and during the course of the day, the leaders should once again sit together and decide on the motion to be taken up under Rule 167.

However, the initial bonhomie witnessed during the start of the proceedings quickly evaporated when Mizoram MP K Vanlalvena referred to a remark by Home Minister Amit Shah and said that all of them were Indians. As Dhankhar disallowed him to speak on Manipur, Opposition MPs protested.

Amid sloganeering, Dhankhar called for the introduction of a bill that replaces Chief Justice of India with a Cabinet Minister in the select committee to choose Chief Election Commissioners and Election Commissioners, which prompted the Opposition to rush to the Well of the House. Opposition were against the Bill.

In the melee, the government managed to pass the Pharmacy (Amendment) Bill without a debate before the House adjourned.