The second leg of the Budget session of Parliament begins today, March 9, and the Opposition is all geared up to raise a number of issues in the Parliament to try and put the Modi administration on the mat. However, it will be a pity if these disruptions result in another washout of a session, with little or no business conducted.
Also read: Gurmehar Kaur's father is NOT a Kargil War hero... but he is a hero nonetheless
Here are the top 5 topics on which the Opposition will try to corner the government:
1. Gurmehar Kaur: The DU student came out in support of those beaten up by the ABVP in the Ramjas College row over the scheduled speech of someone the saffron brigade termed "anti-national." In return, Gurmehar got trolled heavily as frames from a video of hers, shot earlier, surfaced and purportedly showed her saying "Pakistan did not kill my dad, war did."
Now, on one hand, she falsely claimed that her father was martyred in the Kargil war, but on the other, her detractors did not notice that in the video she was saying it was her mother who told her that war killed her father and not Pakistan. Nevertheless, nothing justifies the threats of rape and violence she received, and this will definitely be raised in the Parliament.
2. GDP figures: It was expected that demonetisation would affect India's GDP growth, and even the government thought so: The Economic Survey presented before the budget pegged the growth for the third quarter of FY2017 to be 6.5-6.75 percent. However, it turned out to be 7 percent, well above the expected rate. The Opposition will surely raise this issue, accusing the government of fudging figures, despite there being no indication of it so far.
3. Demonetisation: This will be another issue whose ill effects the Opposition will look to play up. Foremost among this will be the large hauls of fake currency that have been caught all across the country, and especially in West Bengal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had claimed demonetisation would eradicate fake notes. The Opposition will ask how these new fake Rs 2,000 notes are flooding the market?
The second point will be black money. Although tentative figures are out, the Opposition will definitely claim that demonetisation was a failure because not enough black money had been unearthed to justify the move.
4. Terror attacks: Terror attacks in India have abated to an extent, but infiltrators continue to make efforts to enter the country in Kashmir. And then there is the latest incident where the UP Police managed to unearth a group of terrorists belonging to the ISIS Khorasan module. The Congress will definitely chalk this up to the incompetent governance of the Modi administration.
5. GST implementation: As the date for Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation draws near, the Opposition will surely raise some issue or the other to highlight the plight of some section of merchants brought about by GST.
