The recently concluded Parliament session was one of the least productive sessions in many decades.
New Delhi: The recently concluded monsoon session of Parliament was one of the most politically charged and heated sessions in Parliament’s history and witnessed stormy scenes and disruptions by the Opposition on multiple occasions. The session ended two days ahead of schedule. Many disruptions happened in between as the Opposition parties joined hands to corner the government on issues like the farmers’ protests, price rise, the Pegasus snooping scandal etc. The highlight was the clash between All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) firebrand member of Parliament Mahua Moitra and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Nishikant Dubey with Dubey alleging that in the meeting of the parliamentary IT committee, the TMC leader called him “Bihari gunda” thrice. Dubey gave a privilege notice in the Lok Sabha and asked for the removal of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor who heads the standing committee on IT. Dubey, who is a three-time elected member from Jharkhand’s Godda constituency, wrote on microblogging site Twitter tagging the West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee, “The way your MP abused, your party’s hatred towards north Indians and towards Hindi-speaking people is now clear in front of the country.”
Mahua Moitra responded through Twitter and wrote, “Am a bit amused by charges of name calling. IT meeting did not happen because NO quorum—members did not attend. How can I call someone a name who was not even present! Check attendance sheet!” According to a report by the New Delhi-based PRS Legislative Research group, the recently concluded session of Parliament was the third least productive Lok Sabha session of the last two decades, with 79% of its time getting wasted, while Rajya Sabha’s 72% time got wasted and it was the House eighth least productive session in the last approximately two decades.
Both Rajya Sabha chairman and Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla were angered and condemned the acts of the members. Naidu got emotional and broke down on the last day of the session. He said, “The Table area where the officers and the reporters of the House, the Secretary General and the Presiding Officer are seated, is considered as the holy sanctum sanctorum of the House. A certain degree of sacredness is attached to this place. While some members sat on the Table, some others climbed on the Table of the House, perhaps to be more visible with such acts of sacrilege. I have no words to convey my anguish and to condemn such acts.” The session was a reflection of confrontational politics which we would see in the coming days as the Opposition which was down and out after the 2019 Lok Sabha verdict, has got new energy after the West Bengal results and wants to corner the government.