India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has officially ushered in the era of the “opposition-mukt” (opposition-free) parliament.
During the recently concluded winter session of parliament, 146 opposition MPs from both houses were suspended for demanding answers from the government.
This marks the highest number of suspensions in India’s parliamentary history, with about 20 percent of each house’s strength being suspended. The BJP government used this situation to quickly pass significant legislation, including three Criminal Law bills, without facing any objection from the opposition benches. They also reduced the government’s accountability to parliament by deleting 264 questions raised by the suspended opposition MPs from the Question Hour in each house.
The Question Hour is meant to hold the government accountable for its governance and functioning.
The winter session began with drama in early December, when Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra was expelled for “ethical misconduct,” a charge she alleged was fabricated due to her criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his associate Gautam Adani. This led to the entire opposition bloc, including former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, rallying behind Moitra, holding a protest march at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in parliament, and accusing the Modi government of “murdering democracy.”
On December 13, the 22nd anniversary of the attack on the Indian parliament building, there was a major security breach where two youths jumped into the chamber of the lower house from the public gallery and released yellow smoke canisters while raising anti-government slogans. They were accompanied by four other protestors outside the house.
Angry at the government’s attempts to downplay the incident, opposition members demanded a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah and the government to allay their concerns. With the government refusing to comply, non-BJP MPs resorted to protests and sloganeering, leading to adjournments in both houses. Between December 14 and 21, 100 MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha and 46 from the Rajya Sabha.
Responding to the suspensions, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said: “Is crushing MPs’ freedom of expression the new norm in our Parliament? Parliament must be a forum for debate and not for silencing the Opposition.”
One example of arbitrary suspensions is evident from DMK parliamentarian S.R. Parthiban, who was suspended despite not being present in the house. After revealing that he was on sick leave, Parthiban’s suspension was revoked.
This incident underscores the lengths to which the Modi government is willing to go to silence opposing voices, both within and outside parliament.
The Modi government took advantage of the absence of opposition members to push through legislation. This included introducing last-minute legislations of its choice through the Supplementary Agenda, bypassing the advance stipulation of each house’s list of business. Opposition MPs are meant to act as checks and balances on the government and often insist on sending bills to Select Parliamentary Committees for detailed scrutiny. However, not a single bill was referred to any committee for scrutiny during the current session, reducing India’s parliament to a rubber stamp of the government.
The decision to replace the 160-year-old criminal law system was taken in the absence of opposition parliamentarians. Home Minister Shah hailed the three criminal law bills for replacing British colonial law with a “distinctly Indian imprint.”
With 303 MPs in the 543-member lower house, the BJP-led government enjoys a strong majority in parliament, facilitating the seamless passage of its legislative business.
Notably, the highhanded behavior of the government toward the opposition MPs has helped solidify the INDIA bloc. Following state assembly elections last month, the winter session saw suspension of alliance partners and muzzling of their voices, which served to strengthen the alliance further.
At the bloc’s fourth meeting, the INDIA bloc’s 28 parties passed a resolution condemning the suspensions as “undemocratic.” Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge criticized the “autocratic BJP” for its “suspend, throw out and bulldoze” tactic to destroy democracy.
The winter session was the penultimate session of parliament before the general elections next year, prompting the Modi government to push through its agenda. With opposition MPs out of the way, it was able to move forward with its plans.
Ironically, the Modi government had hailed the new parliament building as the “temple of democracy,” but the recent events have shown that the parliament’s soul had long ago been sucked out.