The winter session of Parliament, which commenced on December 1, continued to be marked by stormy and contentious discussions on Tuesday. Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha witnessed fiery debates, with key leaders including Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav taking the floor.
1. Electoral Reforms Debate in Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha saw a heated exchange between the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the INDIA bloc over electoral reforms and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise for the voters’ list.
- Rahul Gandhi’s Attack: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi launched a fierce attack on the NDA, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of “capturing India’s institutions.” He reiterated his highly charged ‘vote theft’ allegations.Gesturing toward the Treasury benches, Gandhi stated, “The biggest anti-national act you can do is vote ‘chori’. Because when you destroy the vote, you destroy the fabric of this country… Those across the aisle are doing an anti-national act.”
- Opposition Demands: Gandhi accused the Election Commission of colluding with the NDA and made several specific demands for electoral transparency:
- Rolling back the law that allows CCTV footage of polling to be destroyed after 45 days.
- Scrapping the immunity granted to election commissioners.
- Providing machine-readable voter lists to all political parties one month ahead of elections after the SIR exercise.
- Akhilesh Yadav’s View: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav backed the demand for reforms, arguing that the Election Commission needs to be impartial and suggested an enhanced panel should be responsible for selecting the Chief Election Commissioner and fellow commissioners.
- Government Counter: Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal countered the opposition’s claims, defending the SIR exercise as a necessary process. He argued that the revision has been held multiple times since 1952 and is essential to clean up electoral rolls that change due due to migration and rapid urbanization.
2. Vande Mataram Debate in Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha continued the debate commemorating the 150th anniversary of ‘Vande Mataram’. Home Minister Amit Shah used the opportunity to deliver a powerful speech, directly challenging the Opposition’s stance on the national song.
- Shah Attacks Congress: Shah rebutted allegations that the discussion was timed to influence the upcoming West Bengal state assembly polls. He emphasized that while the song was composed in Bengal by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, it transcended borders to become the voice of India’s freedom struggle.
- Shah aggressively sought to attack the Congress, claiming that when the song turned 50, the Congress cut two stanzas from it, which he alleged paved the way for appeasement politics and the eventual Partition of the country. He said, “Many people like me believe that if Congress had not divided Vande Mataram under its policy of appeasement, the country would not have been divided, and today the country would be whole.”
- Kharge’s Rebuke: Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge defended his party colleagues and accused the current ruling government of prioritizing the debate to “deflect attention from the problems the country is facing.” Kharge added that “PM Modi and Amit Shah leave no chance to insult Jawaharlal Nehru, and other Congress leaders.” This backed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s earlier comment that debating why only two stanzas were adopted was an insult to freedom fighters and the makers of the Constitution.
The intense debates over electoral sanctity and national heritage are expected to continue in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, with the discussion on electoral reforms scheduled to carry over.