New Delhi: WhatsApp groups to monitor the attendance of MPs, bolstering the strategy amid growing confusion over government moves and crafting a counter-narrative on delimitation, kept opposition managers busy in the last four days culminating in the fall of Constitution Law (Amendment 131). in the Lok Sabha.
The vote on the bill to set limits for the early implementation of women’s quota after increasing Lok Sabha seats showed opposition unity, which has appeared fragile in an election season, as the 235-member opposition bloc barred nine — seven from the campaign-busy Trinamool Congress and two from the unwell Congress — from voting in the union.
The opposition bloc got support from four others who were unaffiliated, taking their total vote against the government to 230. Two independents were also absent while the ruling NDA got 298, five more than its strength, which includes four YSR Congress votes.
As opposition leaders gathered for a meeting on Saturday morning, Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi asked them, “why are you all so quiet,” sparking an impromptu celebration.
The run-up to the vote on the Constitution amendment bill, which requires a two-thirds majority and in this case 352 is needed, saw a halt after reports of bringing an amendment to increase the 50 per cent seats in the Lok Sabha and the notification of the Women’s Quota Act in 2023 emerged amid the debate.
On Thursday night, opposition sources claimed that government leaders tried to impress upon some of their MPs to table amendments seeking proportional increase of 50 per cent seats in the Lok Sabha, promising to accept it if they were serious about it.
It is understood that the government was exploring options to decouple the Constitution Amendment Bill and the Boundaries Bill.
Opposition leaders had to literally burn the midnight oil on Thursday night after the government announced the implementation of the Women’s Quota Act 2023. Sources said they had to imagine different scenarios the government could come up with and prepare counter strategies.
Voting was another challenge and a warning came from none other than Congress president Mallikajrun Kharge, also Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. He wanted the deputies “not to be provoked” by the remarks from the Treasury banks, while he instructed his deputies not to lose their cool even if they “insulted” the leaders or their party. “No walkouts or loss of composure was Kharge’s instruction,” a senior leader told DH.
Sources said opposition parties were also coordinating to ensure attendance with senior leaders by forming a WhatsApp group to check progress in ensuring that the absent MPs were actually in Parliament.
Fourteen MPs had submitted at least 115 amendments to the Constitution Amendment Bill and two related bills, but were asked by party leaders not to move it when it came out, on the grounds that they were against the bill.
The passing of the bill also did not end the troubles of the opposition leaders as the ruling BJP had hit the ground running accusing them of being anti-women.
A meeting of the floor leaders on Saturday morning saw them once again mulling over the narrative war.
The first signs of the opposition’s attack line were revealed when the Congress fielded senior leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at a press conference, her first in Delhi, shortly after Parliament adjourned sine die. The original plan was for Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh to meet the media, but that was changed after a suggestion came up at a meeting of opposition leaders.
Congress’s Jairam Ramesh told the meeting that the government would push a narrative that the Opposition is against women’s quota, but they should defend the line that the BJP was pushing delimitation through the back door.
With elections looming, sources said the Trinamool Congress suggested that joint programs may not be feasible and insisted that the parties should make programs on their own. There have been suggestions that the Opposition should write a joint letter to the government demanding the immediate implementation of the women’s quota.
