Hoping For A GST Breakthrough, Govt Walks Extra Mile To Address Opposition Concerns

As the Narendra Modi government waits for the return of Congress president Sonia Gandhi from her US visit this weekend to take the GST dialogue forward, in an interesting change of strategy, it has adopted the stance of “accommodation” towards the Opposition in Parliament to help take forward the proceedings.

There were at least two clear-cut instances of the government’s new-found accommodation towards the Opposition concerns in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

First, one of the ministers, Piyush Goyal, expressed “regret” over his remarks on the supposed discrimination faced by former Congress minister Kumari Sailaja in a Dwarka temple, when she had visited the state. The Congress leader, a Dalit, had alleged on Monday (30 November) that she was asked about her caste in a Dwarka temple. Goyal had said that this was a “manufactured problem” and “manufactured discrimination”. The Congress members took umbrage at this and wanted the Minister to apologise before the House proceedings could continue. Goyal on Thursday readily accepted his “regrets” after a brief disruption. The House later ran, barring some minor disturbances.

Second instance of the government’s “accommodation” towards the Opposition and other parties was on display when the Upper House was discussing a calling attention motion on Nepal and Indo-Nepal relations. Even as JD (U) member Pawan Kumar Verma was about to speak, some members, including Congress’s Karan Singh, argued that the recent crisis in Nepal and its fallout on India was too serious to be discussed as part of a calling attention motion – which would allow each member barely three minutes. He called for a detailed discussion on the matter to which the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj readily agreed, and said there should be a short duration discussion on the matter, “maybe for four hours on Monday”. The Minister’s statement was welcomed by all sides as the Chair agreed to get a discussion done on Monday.

The two instances in Rajya Sabha on Thursday were not isolated instances. Sources say as part of a conscious decision, taken on the eve of the winter session, the government has decided to be accomodative of the Opposition’s concerns in Parliament. The Prime Minister’s outreach process was part of this well-thought out strategy. This is in sharp contrast to the government strategy in the last monsoon session when, it appeared, there were no channels of communication between the government and the opposition.

On the GST bill, the government hopes for some give and take with the Congress. While the government is firm that it cannot mention the 18 per cent cap in the constitution amendment bill, it is open to suggestions on other issues. The Congress had given a list of three proposals to the PM on GST.

All eyes are now on the Congress president’s return from the US, which should happen by the weekend.