Disruptions, adjournments, suspension: How 44 MPs did not let government have its way in Parliament

New Delhi: The four-week long monsoon session of Parliament witnessed a lot of drama with repeated adjournments, suspension of Congress MPs from the Lok Sabha, many wearing black bands and senior leaders protesting in the well of the House. Allegations and counter-allegations flew thick and fast but no substantial debate or discussion took place except the one on the controversy surrounding External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's alleged links with tainted cricket administrator Lalit Modi.

Monsoon session was also the first time that the Narendra Modi government faced a turbulent task in bringing Opposition on board to get key legislations passed but ultimately failed to due so despite enjoying a brute majority in the Lok Sabha.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress were involved in a bitter war of words, other political parties were a mute spectator only waiting for Parliament to function. Major legislations like Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, Real Estate Bill, Whistleblower Protection Bill were stuck and will now only be taken up in the next session.

The last two days of the session saw a fierce debate between Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over the controversy involving former Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi. But the debate later turned acrimonious resulting in only allegations, counter-allegations and a walkout by Congress when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was answering on behalf of the government.

The adamant Congress having just 44 MPs in the 543-member Assembly did not let the government have its way. Congress's demand for resignations of Sushma, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Lalit Modi row and Madhya Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Vyapam scam resulted in pandemonium in Parliament and ultimately Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 25 Congress MPs for five days leading to more protests.

Even though other parties were not supporting Congress's demand for resignation but the ouster of MPs certainly brought the opposition closer with leaders across the party line standing with each other in boycotting the session. One week was wasted as opposition MPs protested outside Parliament House at the Mahatma Gandhi statue.

The five all-party meeting and several BJP Parliamentary Party meets failed to bring consensus or build a strategy for the House to function. If the Congress is responsible for the uproar, then the government is responsible for not bringing a solution or a way-out. The silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was more deafening and gave Congress a weapon to target the government.

The government is now planning to convene a special session of Parliament from August 31 to September 4, said sources, adding that the final call is yet to be taken.

Among the major reform legislations which remained pending were the ambitious GST Bill, which aims at overhauling the indirect taxation system in the country by ushering in a uniform regime.

The much-talked about Land Acquisition Bill too was put off till the next session despite much climbdown by the government on key provisions as the joint committee report could not be presented due to tussle between BJP and its rivals.

The Rajya Sabha, which was the worst hit, worked for just about nine hours and lost a massive 82 hours to disruptions. Even though Arun Jaitley was successful in introducing the Bill amidst uproar by the opposition, it could not be taken up for discussion.

Even as Parliament is adjourned sine dine, there is no end to the bitterness between the Congress and BJP. While Congress MP Rahul Gandhi targeted Narendra Modi for not taking any action and daring him to bring back Lalit Modi, the latter responded by equating Congress's behaviour with that during the Emergency days.

Lok Sabha sat for 47 hours and 27 minutes working in the din but lost 34 hours and four minutes due to the protests. However, it also sat late for five hours and 27 minutes to compensate the time lost to some extent.

While 10 bills were introduced and 6 passed in the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha saw the passage/return of 2 bills and withdrawal of three bills.