Indian govt to initiate discussion with TMC which opposed it
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) put a spanner in the works with its sudden opposition to the controversial Land Boundary Agreement(LBA) between India and Bangladesh. The Bill will now come up after discussions between TMC and the Government. The Bill was listed for introduction today in the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. The Government, however, failed in its effort to introduce the Bill: the second time in this session and thrice today.
The government first listed the Bill for introduction last week but withdrew it to bring it back on the list today.
Today, it first tried to introduce it around 1pm amid joint opposition by the AGP and TMC, then again at 2pm which led the House to be adjourned and finally at 2.11pm when the Chairman amid din announced that the Bill would be taken up “later in the day”. That did not happen.
The Government has called its failure to introduce the Bill as an “unexpected development”. The Bill was listed as the first to be introduced in today’s List of Business.
Armed with the Bill, India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid was all set to introduce it in Rajya Sabha. He looked smug and confident that the Indian Government’s promise to Bangladesh would see some forward movement.
Sensing this, Birendra Prasad Baishya, the lone MP of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) carried two placards protesting against the Constitutional Amendment. He sat in the well of the House as the Rajya Sabha conducting the other business of the day.
The placards which Baishya carried stated that the AGP opposes the Constitutional Amendment Bill and that it will not compromise on the territorial integrity of the country which was defined at the time of the adoption of the Indian Constitution.
The Government did not seem unduly worried about Baishya given that it felt that it would be able introduce the Bill amid his singular protest. In its gameplan it had already got a nod from the BJP on letting it introduce the Bill in Parliament. It is against this backdrop that the Government had taken the step to list the Bill for Introduction.
However, what it had not bargained for was the opposition from the TMC and its joining hands with the AGP.
This sudden development took the Government by surprise, a fact that Union Minister Rajiv Shukla admitted to The Independent: “We don’t know how the TMC jumped in to protest against the introduction”.
This, however, does not to suggest that the Government had the TMC’s nod for introduction. As things panned out the Government had not taken into account that TMC would be a stumbling block during the introduction of the Bill.
It was this miscalculation that the Government paid for today with yet another of its attempts aborted to introduce the controversial Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) Bill.
It however made another attempt when the House met after lunch. Khurshid failed in his attempt yet again and the Deputy Chairman was forced to adjourn the House for ten minutes. When it reassembled, the Chair announced that the Constitutional Amendment Bill will be taken up “later during the day”. That of course did not happen and the House was adjourned late evening after transacting other business including the smooth passage of the Wakf (Amendment) Bill, 2011.
Salman Khurshid’s absence from the Rajya Sabha in the afternoon was a clear indication that the Bill would not come up today. This was also confirmed by TMC MP Derek O’Brien who was spearheading the attack in Rajya Sabha: “We will not allow the Bill to be introduced. We will do what it takes to oppose it. The Government not only has to consult the states but also take their consent. Till then we will not relent” he told The Independent.
However, it took two phone calls to change the scene: one from Salman Khurshid to TMC chief Mamata Bannerji and another from Bannerji to O’Brien. The net result: the TMC apparently climbed down from its initial volatile stance.
The Government and TMC will now hold discussions on the future of the Bill. As of now, Mukul Roy along with party MPs is expected to meet Khurshid to discuss the fate of the Bill.
While it is uncertain on when the Bill will be listed for introduction, the possibility of the Government trying to do it this week cannot be ruled out. However TMC’s Derek O’Brien said that the earliest the Bill will come up, if at all, will be next week. Another version is that it will come up at the “fag end of the session”. The Monsoon session of Parliament ends this month.
-With The Independent input
