The jury is out as to who benefited more from the no confidence motion which was debated in the Lok Sabha earlier this week, and which as expected was won by the ruling dispensation, thanks to the overwhelming numbers that were in its favour.
The very purpose of the motion was to make the Prime Minister come to the House to speak on Manipur, which continues to burn with unprecedented ethnic violence being witnessed on a daily basis. However, neither he nor most of the speakers from the Treasury Benches, spoke anything substantial about what was happening there, and instead utilized the Parliamentary forum to highlight the achievements of the government, and poke fun at the Opposition.
Union Minister Smriti Irani, who spoke soon after Rahul Gandhi, also accused him of sending a flying kiss directed at the women BJP members, something which was seen as diversionary tactics by the Congress representatives.
Many BJP women members have complained to the Lok Sabha Speaker, but it is evident that there are no visuals of the Congress leader’s alleged gesture. If the accusation is correct, it has not been recorded, because the camera, for some odd reason, was not focusing on him most of the time, but on the Speaker.
The unnecessary controversy served to dilute the serious discussion, and after the end of the No-Confidence motion, an impression, rightly or wrongly, was created that the Indian Parliament had given a flying kiss to Manipur. The Treasury Benches seemed determined to intimidate the Opposition.
Rahul Gandhi spoke from his heart but he could have done much better, had he been better prepared for this big occasion. He has evidently improved over a period of time, and people have started taking him seriously. But he needs to requisition the services of more experienced aides, if he has to make a lasting impact in Parliament.
The 133-minute record-breaking speech by the Prime Minister also was mostly a repeat of what he has been saying regarding the achievements of his nine years in office. He made repeated digs at Rahul Gandhi, maintaining that his party despite multiple efforts, has not been able to launch him, a remark which evoked deriding laughter from the Treasury Benches.
The Opposition while moving the motion had expected that the Prime Minister would speak about Manipur, but he decided to only make a passing reference to the state, and dwelled more on the northeastern region as a whole. In fact, he spoke barely for two minutes on Manipur and then brought in history to show how the Congress had been unfair to the entire Northeast, even during the tenures of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
There were some very focused speeches on Manipur as well and Gaurav Gogoi from the Congress who initiated the motion, appeared very charged and prepared. However, Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress was decidedly the most outstanding speaker in the debate, and in the five minutes allotted to her, she brought out the real issues that confronted the state, and stressed on the need to have greater accountability for what was happening there. She was critical of how whataboutery had taken over, and stated why and how the situation in Manipur was different than other states, thereby carrying the battle straight to the Treasury Benches. Mahua has the making of a great Parliamentarian, and even for those who may not agree with her ideological and political beliefs, she stands out as someone whose voice cannot be ignored.
The Gandhis were the targets of the majority of BJP speakers and it was obvious that many of them were doing this, since they had nothing much to say on the real issue of the discussion, which was Manipur. The Congress does not have the same number of fiery speakers in the Lok Sabha as the government has, but Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress, did question the Prime Minister for his silence on the issue, while accusing him of being blind to what was the ground reality there. The Prime Minister later made fun of him and said that he was not considered to be good enough to figure amongst the speakers listed by his party initially. Adhir was later suspended from the Lok Sabha for his alleged misconduct, thereby adding to the drama that took place in Lok Sabha, with the Opposition walking out after 90 minutes of the Prime Minister’s speech, since he had not mentioned Manipur even once till then.
The Parliament proceedings were witnessed by millions of viewers all over the country and the impact they would have on the Lok Sabha elections is difficult to determine. Social media is also working overtime to create a perception, both for and against the government.
The Opposition appeared more united than before during the session and the BJP should not take this lightly. There are bound to be many more twists and turns. In the end, the matter shall go to the court of the people, which in a democracy is supreme. Between us.