#dnaEdit: Floor management

It has been a creditable performance on the part of the BJP-led NDA government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 and the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill have been passed on the last days of the first phase of the Budget session on Friday. It is reported that the minister for parliamentary affairs M Venkaiah Naidu and finance minister Arun Jaitley had reached out to the parties in the “middle” and succeeded in persuading them to vote with the government. 

The government faces no problems in pushing legislation through the Lok Sabha where it has a clear majority. It was clearly outnumbered in the Rajya Sabha. The BJP and its allies hold 59 seats (BJP: 47, Shiv Sena: 3, Akali Dal – 3, TDP: 6) while the Congress (68) and its ally NCP (6) have 74 in the Upper House. 

It is apparent now that the Bahujan Samaj Party (10), the Samajwadi Party (15), the All-Indian Trinamool Congress (12), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (11) and Biju Janata Dal (7), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (1) went along with the government. Surprisingly, even the NCP voted in favour of the bills. This is not a case of bipartisan voting as it is practised in the United States Congress, where individual Republicans and Democrats vote for the other side on different bills. In India, the votes are along party lines, and it is also the case that it is not always based on the merits of a legislation.

BSP and SP, which are bitter rivals in Uttar Pradesh, have voted together. This is not the first time, of course, that there was convergence between the two. It had happened during the previous UPA years as well. Then it was believed that the Congress floor managers cajoled the two into voting with the government to keep the “right-wing” BJP out. It was also rumoured than that the Congress was threatening Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav about the CBI cases pending against them. It is not clear as to what were the arguments that Naidu used to get the two onto the government side. Similarly, the TMC, which had been railing against the BJP quite belligerently, changed positions without much ado. The official version of all these parties would be that they believe that the two bills are for the good of the country. But the behind-the-door bargains would be the real reason. There is no need to bemoan this fact because “deal” is the common practice all over the world, including in the much admired liberal democracies of the United States and the United Kingdom. 

There is also the example of the Congress facilitating the passage of the insurance amendment bill which raised the FDI limit from 26% to 49%. In this case, it was the BJP which had blocked the legislation for a few years and for rather unconvincing reasons. But the Congress chose to go along with the government after the bill went to the Rajya Sabha’s Select Committee. 

The process reflects the simple fact that governments will have to reach out to the opposition parties to push the legislative business and the BJP has succeeded in doing so. The land acquisition amendment bill remains a thorn but the BJP can now hope that it can convince at least some of the parties opposing it at the moment. It is not going to be easy. The BJP seems to have accepted the norm that talking helps and compromise is not a dirty word in the political lexicon.