Page 24 - Tehelka Issue 15 August 2018

column

Over-confidence in

no-confidence motion

The no-trust motion — in which 325 MPs voted no and only 126 in favour — literally
Hard became a parliamentary exercise for the ruling NDA and the Opposition to advance
LIne their respective electoral agendas in the run-up to the 2019 general elections

Anil Singh ndoubtedly, the outcome of the many other victims like you. This weapon is
no-confidence motion against called the ‘jumla strike’. The farmers, Dalits,
the BJP-led NDA government tribals, youths and women are also victims
The columnist is headed by Prime Minister of this weapon.”
Executive Editor of U Narendra Modi was a foregone While recalling Prime Minister Modi’s
News24 news conclusion. Nevertheless, it did afford an promise of providing jobs to two crore
channel. The views opportunity for the Opposition to take the youth every year, Congress president said
here expressed are the government on crucial issues and concomi- that only four lakh jobs had been provided.
author’s own tantly also an occasion for the Modi govern- Undoubtedly, PM Modi in his reply to
ment to highlight its “achievements” as an the debate cited Mudra Yojana and other
anchor-sheet in run up to 2019 elections. schemes as avenues of providing jobs;
Total 325 MPs backed the motion against nonetheless, many experts regard this
126 supports. Zero -record of abstentions plea as contentious. While alluding to the
after several members from Shiv Sena, Biju case of Jay Shah, son of the BJP president
Janata Dal and Telangana Rashtra Samithi Amit Shah, who has increased his income
left the house. 16, 000 times within a short span, Rahul
It was the first no-confidence vote in Gandhi said prime minister claimed to be a
15 years. The Opposition move for a no- “Chowkidar” but he was a “Bhagidar.”
confidence motion was disallowed by the In his attempt to debunk Rahul Gandhi’s
speaker in the last Budget session of the criticism that the NDA served the interests
Parliament. Perhaps, Modi government of big businesses at the cost of farmers
was ill-prepared to face such a move at that and small businessmen, Modi asserted
juncture in the wake of huge banking scams his government’s pro-poor stance and
being fresh in the public memory. The presented a long list of schemes that he felt
no-trust motion literally became a parlia- would benefit all. However, some experts
mentary exercise for the ruling NDA and have termed it a poor defence of a strong
the Opposition to advance their respective criticism. In response to an accusation that
The debate gave electoral agendas in the run-up to the 2019 the BJP’s policies and cronyism have led to
a chance to general elections. an unprecedented burden on Indian banks
as debt-laden companies defaulted, the
the opposition Chowkidar vs Bhagidar prime minister sought refuge in blaming
Like Congress president Rahul Gandhi,
the entire crisis on the Congress.
to attack the representatives of many opposition parties
government took on the Modi government to task for Evasive Approach
PM Modi’s defensive speech against the
not fulfilling its promises and ignoring the
on a range of genuine demands of the people, especially no-trust motion spanning over 90 minutes
issues including the farmers, Dalits and women. While was termed as a subterfuge by one critic
because of its evasive intent of sidetrack-
opening the debate, a TDP MP recalled vari-
farm distress, ous promises made to Andhra Pradesh that ing major critical issues under the garb of
economic growth had remained unfulfilled and demanded statistical jugglery. Rahul Gandhi’s query on
the price of Rafale aircraft failed to elicit any
grant of special status for his state. While
and incidents of supporting the TDP MP, Congress president satisfactory answer either from the defence
mob lynching said: “You are a victim of the fantastic 21st minister or the prime minister on the
pretext of the secrecy clause in the Rafale
century political weapon and there are

tehelka / 15 august 2018 24 www.tehelka.com