It’s baffling that notices to move a no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government by the YSR Congress, Telugu Desam Party, Congress, CPI(M) and RSP are yet to be taken up in the Lok Sabha. This is without precedent. The rulebook says when a notice for a no-trust vote is given, all business of the House must be suspended to make way for it.
Moving such a motion is the Lok Sabha’s prerogative and not a gift of the government, or the presiding officer. It’s the Lok Sabha that elects the Prime Minister and it’s this House that has the right to move a motion to express lack of confidence in the government of the PM it has elected.
In the present case, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan appears to be pleading helplessness. She has said such a motion can’t be taken up until order returns to the House. The Speaker, however, is armed with powers to restore order. Many wonder why she is diffident about exercising her authority.
The two Houses have been in near continuous turmoil since the Budget Session began about four weeks ago. The session is due to end in the first week of April. Order is needed because, under the rules, at least 50 MPs must support a no-confidence motion from the seats allotted to them so that a proper headcount can be taken before the motion is debated and voted upon.
A variety of parties have been creating disturbances in the House to voice various grievances, leading to near daily adjournments. But since the YSR Congress and the TDP gave their notice around 12 days ago, only the TRS and AIADMK are disturbing Lok Sabha proceedings to press for matters pertaining to Telangana and Tamil Nadu respectively. TRS MPs have since ceased their disruption, but the AIADMK has not. As the government has managed to get the Budget passed in the din without debate, it has shown little concern to meet the demands of various parties so that disruptions cease and Parliament runs smoothly. There is widespread political suspicion that the government doesn’t want the no-confidence motion taken up, although it has enough strength in the Lok Sabha to defeat it, and is happy to let the disrupters carry on creating disorder. It is apparently afraid that the BJP’s NDA allies, Shiv Sena and Akali Dal, and the TDP, which left the NDA only a fortnight ago, may skewer it in a no-confidence debate. Worse, the BJP is now also thought to harbour the anxiety that, in the last lap before the next Lok Sabha election, some of its own MPs may turn unreliable. What stands out, however, is that the right of the government’s opponents to have a no-confidence motion debated and voted upon has been rendered theoretical.
