December 14-21

The Constitution (117th Amendment) Bill, 2012 (Quota in Promotions Bill)

It seems to be the season for legislation. Post the passing of the Bill to allow FDI in Multi Brand Retail and the prime role played by Ms. Mayawati in ensuring its passage; it was time for the UPA to help Ms. Mayawati in the passage of the Quota-in-promotions bill.

Now this bill is interesting since it allows for a quota in promotions for SC and ST in Givernment Service. Considering the beneficiaries of the proposed bill are the target constituency of Ms. Mayawati, it was not surprising to see her promote the passage of the bill aggressively.

In fact some would say that the support for the FDI in Multi Brand retail was contingent on the Government helping the safe passage of this bill. However, this would be a very simplistic assumption if you consider that the bill was passed with a two thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha. Of the 245 members in the Rajya Sabha, the bill was passed by 194 members.

The most vocal opponents of the bill was the Samajwadi Party whose core vote bank consists of Muslims and OBC’s; the one’s most likely to be affected by the passing of this bill. But the opposition is not towards quota but the fact that there core-constituency is currently not taken care of with a Promotions quota of its own.

However, since this series was written with a view on 2014 elections, it is clear from the voting of all major parties that none of them want to antagonize any vote bank by being known to publicly anti-quota. Even though, state units of both the BJP and INC in UP have expressed grave reservations to this bill according to media reports.

Further, importantly, this amendment would override Article 335 of the Constitution:

Article 335 of the Constitution states that the claims of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have to be balanced with maintaining efficiency in administration.  (http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/constitution-one-hundred-seventeenth-amendment-bill-2012--2462/)

Now, it would be interesting to note what happens in the Lok Sabha, where the SP has a lot more seats to try and block the passage of this bill. Further it would be interesting to note what the other parties depending on substantial OBC votes like RJD and JD(U) do?

The Great Game – General Election 2014 – November 2012

The great game for the biggest prize in India, politically, the “gaddi” at New Delhi post the proposed elections in 2014 has begun.  This series would try and examine and analyse key political events till then to provide some perspective on the political alignments and re-alignments that would impact the formation of the next government.

Winter Session 2012

FDI in Retail

December 1-7

The winter session of parliament has begun in earnest and as in the last session, the opposition has not allowed the parliament to function, primarily on account of the government’s decision to not put the “FDI in Retail” decision to vote.

The government’s contention being that, since it is an executive decision it need not be ratified by vote in Parliament; politically of course the key risk is a major embarrassment to the government if the vote is defeated. What makes the government unsure is the fact that, key allies like Mulayam Singh Yadav of the SP have stated on record their opposition to the bill and the DMK also is not entirely happy with the proposal. Considering, how dependent the Government is on the support of these two allies, it might choose a disrupted Winter Session rather than a vote where the outcome is uncertain.

December 7-14

In a major victory for the UPA-II, the FDI in multi brand retail bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament. There were exciting debates in both houses, with the Governments chances in Lok Sabha bolstered by walkouts by SP and BSP (while protesting the policy) that helped it to win a majority among the members present and voting.

As part of the debates, the Leader of the Opposition, Mrs. Sushma Swaraj made a pointed remark about Ms. Mayawati of the BSP to the effect that, when Ms. Mayawati needs support on bills of interest to her she doesn’t mind canvassing support from the BJP, however, when it suits her she accuses them (BJP) on being communal. She further went on to allege that both the SP and BSP play ball with the UPA on account of pressure exerted on them by way of intensifying CBI investigations into various cases filed against them as and when they want their support.

This led to an interesting scene during the vote in the Rajya Sabha, with Ms. Mayawati completely changing her party’s position during the vote in the Lok Sabha. In her speech she took serious exception to the BJP’s leader of the Lok Sabha stating that the BSP was helping the UPA due the CBI’s influence and going on to state instances when she felt the CBI was wrongly used against her (Mayawati) during the NDA regime. Stating such comments as an insult to her party she went on to support FDI in Multi Brand Retail thereby giving a major fillip to the Government and helping them win the day.

Notes

·         The motion saw some high quality speeches in both houses of Parliament namely from Mr. Arun Jaitley, Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Ms. Sushma Swaraj and Mr. Mulayam Singh.

·         It’s interesting that parties can oppose a motion but chose to walk out instead of recording their opposition by voting against the motion. There should be some amendment to this rule in my opinion