The ongoing winter session of Parliament signals that the opposition parties now believe that they have a chance to take on the ruling dispensation— that till now looked invincible after the success of farmers’ movement that led the government of India to revoke the contentious farm laws. The winter session of Parliament had been used by the opposition parties to corner the government on the issue of farmers, unemployment, and the hasty withdrawal of farm bills. Speaking to The Daily Guardian, a senior opposition Member of Lok Sabha said, “Yes we have now the hope that we can defeat the BJP in UP and Uttarakhand which will give us momentum for 2024.”
The Congress is excited and its leaders feel that it will strengthen their leader. Shams Shahnawaz, Youth Congress spokesperson told The Daily Guardian, “Rahul Gandhi has emerged as a strong leader after the farm movement. It was the Congress party that stood with the farmers from day one and our continuous support strengthened the farmers’ agitation which forced the BJP government to take back the farm bills. It has given all of us much-needed energy to raise the fundamental issues of development, price rise, employment, and bureaucratic atrocities on the common people.”
On the contrary, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) feels that the repeal of the farm bill shows the approach of the government to take everyone together. Senior BJP Member of Parliament Janardan Singh Sigriwal told The Daily Guardian, “The opposition is celebrating for no reason. The repeal of the farm bill has shown that our leader Narendra Modi respects every viewpoint. As we were not able to satisfy some members of the farming community, in the larger interest of the country, we took back the bill.”
Experts argue that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to repeal the three contentious farm laws is due to the potential fallout of farmers’ protests in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, and that the move is BJP’s calculated step to bury the anger, if any, in these politically significant areas.
The winter session of Parliament is one of the most politically charged and heated sessions in Parliament’s history and witnessed stormy scenes and disruptions by the Opposition on multiple occasions with the opposition demanding the chairman to repeal the expulsion of 12 Rajya Sabha members who were suspended in this session for the disruption during the previous session.
Rajya Sabha chairman and Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla condemned the acts of the members during the previous session. Even on the last day of the previous session, Naidu got emotional and broke down.