Legislative Assembly: First week review of winter session

Assembly Review

The ‘spell’ of routine and a ‘miracle’ on the Bill

By Kartik Lokhande 

The first week of winter session of State Legislature this year was more of the same, once again. There were only a few changes indicating break from the routine in Legislative Assembly. The most important being lesser adjournments and more emphasis on legislative business from both the sides.
The most important business of the first week was passage of Anti Black Magic Bill. With the referendum on Vidarbha statehood being conducted on Monday, it will be interesting to watch intensity of the main Opposition constituent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in following up the demand of statehood to Vidarbha. The second week may see more stormy developments with tabling of Adarsh scam report. The Opposition may press for tabling of Kelkar Committee report on backlog removal, and report of Special Inquiry Team (SIT) headed by Dr Madhavrao Chitaley on irrigation scam.
As far as the first week is concerned, the routine of demand for discussion on farmers’ issues and more of a typical Government reply to that was followed religiously by both the sides. Besides, there was a routine round of allegations and counter-allegations from the Opposition as well as the Democratic Front (DF) Government over willingness to discuss issues related to Vidarbha region. Another routine followed religiously was taking up half-hour discussions on issues of importance to Nagpur, the Second Capital city, late in the evening in presence of only a select members and ministers. One wonders why are not the issues of importance to Second Capital city taken up for discussion and reply during day-time. In this routine also, there was a welcome change -- lesser number of adjournments.
Like every year, Anti Black Magic Bill was on agenda. However, the Bill assumed the highest importance as it was coming up after murder of anti-superstition activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan took efforts like interacting with different groups as well as the Opposition members to ensure smooth passage of the Bill in Legislative Assembly. The Opposition, too, after a ‘detailed yet inadequate’ discussion on various provisions of the Bill extended co-operation for its passage. MLAs Devendra Fadnavis (BJP) and Abu Azmi (SP) made impressive speeches throwing light on the issues involved. Shiv Sena cautioned against misuse of the law against Hindus, and warned of agitation if it happened so.

Published in The Hitavada CityLine on December 16, 2013

The Opposition extended co-operation but asked the Government not to rush with the passage of the Bill. On the other, after passage of the Bill, the ruling Congress dubbed the Opposition’s stand as ‘suspect’. The Bill was passed with five major amendments including incorporation of an extended ‘Saving Clause’ exempting almost all the religious and spiritual practices from the ambit of the law. Though most of the social organisations and activists welcomed passage of the Bill, a look at the provisions made it clear that it was a ‘watered down’ version of the original draft. Now, all eyes are on Legislative Council where it will come up for discussion and passage in second week of winter session.
On political front, the ruling side appeared more organised and composed than the Opposition. Within the Opposition, there is still no agreement over the issue of Vidarbha statehood. While the BJP is in favour of statehood to Vidarbha, Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena are not. Whereas, despite differences of opinion between the DF constituents Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), both generally went along well in the House. Occassionally, however, NCP members did not miss the chance of targeting Congress in an indicative manner.
One more feature of the first week’s business in Legislative Assembly was not-so-visible presence of women members. Except for Yashomati Thakur (Congress), other women members did not participate with enthusiasm and study in debates on important issues concerning Vidarbha.