Major opposition parties denied chairmanship of important parliamentary committees
In an unprecedented move, in the latest rejig, the BJP-led Union government took away from the largest opposition party in Parliament, the Congress, the chairmanships of the crucial parliamentary standing committees of Home and Information Technology.
Not only that, the second largest opposition party, Trinamool Congress, was not given to head even one parliamentary standing committee.
Though there is no hard and fast rule, it has been the practice to give the Opposition the respect it deserves by asking the major opposition parties to head some of the important standing committees.
Several opposition MPs, including Jairam Ramesh, Shashi Tharoor, from whom the chairmanship of the IT committee was taken away and Derek O’Brien, have strongly criticised this move, with some saying that this is what Modi’s so-called ‘new India’ is all about.
While Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh responded with “This is ModIndia”, his colleague from Trinamool Congress in the House, Derek O’Brien tweeted, “This is the stark reality of New India”.
The government had orally communicated the decision to take away from the Congress the chairmanships of the Home and IT committees to the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. He had then too urged the government not to do this, as giving adequate space to the opposition in Parliament is an essential feature of democracy.
As a result of the latest move, all the six key parliamentary panels—Home, Defence, External Affairs, Finance, IT and Health—are now chaired by MPs of BJP and its allies.
