Congress to take a back seat
Last Parl Session in the Old building
The Winter Session of Parliament which commences on Wednesday 7 December is expected to have a victory hangover of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh election results. Exit polls are forecasting a win for BJP in Gujarat and a fierce battle in Himachal Pradesh. This session is the last sitting of both Houses of Parliament in the old building, as the new building is set to be inaugurated for the Budget session that will commence in January 2023.
Modi hai…
When Narendra Modi enters Parliament 303 MPs will raise the Modi-Modi slogan. The Winter Session of Parliament will conclude on December 29, 2022, and there will be a total of 17 working days. This is the first time that the winter session is shortened.
MPs can eSign their attendance
This session will also go down in the history that members can sign e attendance through their mobile phones. MPs need not sign in the attendance register. The Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla has succeeded in getting a paperless Lok Sabha with a 95 percent success rate. This will be the 10th session of the 17th Lok Sabha, the last sitting in the prestigious old building. This will be the first session of the Winter Session where the foreign minister Dr. S Jaishankar is to make a statement on his bilateral visits to 18 countries. And that resulted in better coordination with world leaders. This session is also the first in its kind that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will enter the Parliament with a new feather on his crown that India is heading the G-20, and also to preside over the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting to be held in India in July 2023. These are set to mark the beginning of India becoming a VishwaGuru (World Power).
New VP Jagdeep Dhankar to chair RS
This is also the first session that Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar will chair as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. It will be interesting to watch how the Mamata Banerjee Trinamool Congress MPs of Rajya Sabha are to behave with its Chairman. The reason is known to political observers that the relationship between Jagdeep Dhankar and Mamata was not that good as Governor and Chief Minister of West Bengal. This is also the first session that Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar will chair as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
How will the regional parties approach Winter Session?
With Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi skipping Lok Sabha, there will not be a punch. But the approach of regional parties like Trinamool Congress, DMK, K Chandrasekhar Rao party TRS now BRS after he made it an all-India party, Nitish Kumar JDU, how would Chirag Paswan behave? Will Chirag irritate the Nitish Kumar regime in Bihar? DMK is all set to raise the undue powers of the Governors of the state. Now that three Governors are not behaving properly with their chief ministers, three different regional parties are set to show the cause of the Governors.
Spotlight on Governors
Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala Governors are interfering with day-to-day administration. Kerala Governor Arif Mohd Khan is taking undue advantage of his absolute powers like the vice-chancellors. He takes on the CPM Chief Minister Pinnarai Vijayan. Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi is not signing the NEET nor other bills like online games. R N Ravi is propagating RSS ideologies and accuses DMK. And interestingly Dr. Tamiliasai Soundarajan the Governor of Telangana is an irritant for K Chandrasekhar Rao. Chief Minister of Telangana. She is too vocal. Tamiliasai is also commenting on DMK Government. Opposition is set to demand a debate on the powers of Governors.
Expect noisy sessions
Whichever side one would look at the victories or for that matter repeat of the same governments, there will be pandemonium in both Houses of Parliament. Congress Party leaders are busy with the Bharat Jodo Yatra, it has been officially stated that Rahul Gandhi is to skip the proceedings of the Winter Session of Lok Sabha. But Congress for the first time the Leader of the Grand Old Party Mallikarjuna Kharge who is also the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha is set to make his presence felt. On the first day, there will be a memorial for Mulayam Singh Yadav. Opposition is all set to bring in a reference to the Morbi Bridge collapse in Gujarat. Speaker of Lok Sabha whether he admits it or not, Congress leaders openly say that they will raise it in both houses. On international issues, congress is to raise a Chinese spy ship to snoop India from Sri Lankan Hambantota port. It is a serious issue. Ukrainian war is also on QUAD.
How will the government bring Legislation?
Winter Session will continue till 29th December having 17 sittings spread over 23 days. As Prahlad Joshi Minister for Parliamentary affairs tweeted, Amid Amrit Kaal looking forward to discussions on Legislative Business & other items during the session. Looking forward to constructive debate. Will the opposition help government to have a smooth session? If we look at the government business list, it is lengthier. There is a few most important bill government wants to get passed.
16 new bills to be presented
The Narendra Modi government may bring around 16 new bills during the Winter Session of Parliament that begins on December 7. These new bills listed for introduction, consideration, and passing include Trade Marks (Amendment) Bill and Dental Bill. The Trade Marks bill seeks to incorporate aspects of the Madrid Registration System, amend the procedure regarding show cause, hearing, and opposition hearing, and incorporation of electronic communication by the Trade Mark Office. The Dental Bill seeks to repeal the Dentists Act, of 1948 and sets up a National Dental Commission. The bills that have already been introduced and will be taken up for discussion and passing include The Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill, 2019, and The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
Tributes
The Lok Sabha will also pay tributes to the members who passed away during the inter-session period. Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away in October. Mainpuri Lok Sabha in a by-election if Dimple Yadav wins with a low margin than in 2024 it will be sure Modi-Yogi double engine will defeat Samajwadi Party. In short, the Winter Session of Parliament is to be interesting which will of course push a narrative that the Opposition is too weak. And that will ease tensions in the mindset of the BJP claiming a Modi hat-trick in 2024.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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