Opposition hardens position after AAP win

If the govt tries to justify communalism, we cannot stand by and continue with parliamentary business as usual, a Congress leader said

With the myth of the invincibility of the Narendra Modi-Led Bharatiya Janata Party government smashed after the Delhi elections, opposition parties are likely to harden their position in Parliament leading to more logjams.

The Budget session begins on 23 February. Top Congress sources maintained their earlier position: that the party had no substantive differences on either the Coal ordinance, which is intended in the long run, to reform the coal mining sector or the changes in the insurance sector for which an ordinance has been promulgated by the government.

Both bills were not allowed to be tabled in the last session of Parliament because of disruption by the opposition and the government had to resort to issuing the amended versions as ordinance. "We do not want to be seen as anti reform," a Congress leader said. However, he said the Congress will make no effort to convince other opposition parties like the Trinamool Congress that they should support the legislation.

In the winter session, wary of being isolated the Congress had gone along with the other opposition parties in preventing the parliamentary ratification of the amended bills. However, the Congress will oppose the changes the government has proposed in the Land acquisition law, especially doing away with Social Impact Assessment for projects described as being for public purpose.

In the party's view, this will enable the government to ride roughshod over those who don't have rights on land but nevertheless derive their livelihood from it. The Congress party, which is the biggest opposition group in the Rajya Sabha is yet to take a view on what its parliamentary strategy for the budget session will be. "Ït all depends on what the government does and says. If we sense that the government is trying to justify communalism, we cannot stand by and continue with parliamentary business as usual," said a Congress leader.