Winter Session of Parliament: Modi Warns Opposition, Key Bills to be Introduced

Winter Session of Parliament: Prime minister Narendra Modi threatened the opposition by telling them that Parliament was not a stage to create drama. The winter session commenced on Monday, December 1 and Modi was pointing out that there was a high voter turnout in Bihar as a show of strength of democracy. He encouraged the opposition parties to forget their feelings of disappointment and strive to create a healthy parliamentary environment and concentrate on national development and critical debates.

Agenda of Government and the Concerns of the Opposition:

Key Legislative Business: 

The government intends to bring 14 new bills in the session. These are the economic giant reforms like the Securities Markets Code, changes to the Insurance Act, the insolvency code, and the corporate law. The GST ordinance in Manipur is another law that the government plans to make permanent. The winter session starts on the first of December and finishes on the 19 th.

Opposition’s Stance on SIR: 

The Congress and Trinamool Congress Parties (TMC) and the opposition have taken a strong stand on the issue of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace (SIR).

Congress’s Criticism: Leader of Congress Jairam Ramesh noted that the government was only conducting a formality having an all-party meeting prior to the sitting. Lok Sabha Deputy Leader Gaurav Gogoi accused the Modi-Shah government of assaulting the parliamentary traditions and democracy. In the Rajya Sabha, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi condemned the prohibition of such slogans like Vande Mataram and Jai Hind, and likened it to the British rule.

TMC’s Aggressive Posture:  The TMC has also indicated that it would challenge the government in regard to SIR. The TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee told him that BLOs were dying and that government needed a debate on SIR in Parliament. Another TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee accused the central government of rejecting the demands of the opposition as drama. He marketed his rage towards the government rejecting the SIR discourse as opposition drama.

All‑Party Meeting Outcomes:  At the all-party meeting held on Sunday, opposition parties insisted that a discussion in detail about SIR should be held. The government indicated that it would remain in contact with the opposition parties so as to have smooth parliamentary proceedings. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju observed that a number of parties such as Congress, TMC, and the Samajwadi Party had expressed their security issues in the country following the Delhi bomb blast and the SIR matter. They also insisted on lengthy negotiations concerning air pollution, foreign policy, problems of farmers, unemployment and inflation.

To recap it all, the winter session will be a controversial one. The government will pressurize major legislative amendments but the opposition will fight it on issues like SIR as well as claims of attacks on democratic traditions. The very first words spoken by Modi were decisive since he did not want to be dramatic but to have constructive debate.