When Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a comment in Congress on Wednesday saying his Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha wings are pulling in different directions, he touched some nerves in the party.

Because this evokes a debate from the past, but it is also related to the current state of the party and internal dissent.

Modi’s mockery, of course, was in the context of the flowing debate on the motion of thanks in the president’s speech at the Rajya Sabha. His response was uninterrupted after the Government and the Opposition agreed to extend the duration of the debate in the Upper House from 10 to 15 hours so that the deputies could speak on the peasant issue. The opposition dropped its demand for a separate discussion.

In Lok Sabha, however, the congressional-led opposition insisted on a separate discussion on farm laws, but relented on Monday. And the Prime Minister had to face interruptions during his response.

Party leaders said that, at some level, this is not new. The late former President Pranab Mukherjee admits this in his memoirs. That between 1999 and 2004, Congress (then in opposition) was responsible for the riots in Lok Sabha on several occasions. This, he said, resulted in differences between the members of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.

“As a member of the Upper House, I, along with Dr. Manmohan Singh, opposed the tendency of party leaders to support disruptions in the Lower House. I made it widely clear that this practice of interruptions may have become the norm in the Lok Sabha, but it would not be implemented under my leadership in the Rajya Sabha. Dr. Singh agreed with me. Furthermore, I reiterated to the party leadership that it would be better to find me a replacement in case I wanted to carry out such tactics. Due to my position, we were faced with the happy situation where everything was normal in Rajya Sabha, even when the Lower House was still disturbed, ”he said.

But the internal dynamics of Congress were quite different then.

A section of Lok Sabha deputies in Congress believes that the Rajya Sabha leadership should not have agreed with the debate. They say that Rahul Gandhi had had a clear vision that the Opposition should continue to protest if the government does not accept the demand for a separate debate on agricultural issues.

There is another subtext: internal politics in Congress. What is not said is that it was Ghulam Nabi Azad and Deputy Leader of Congress Anand Sharma who were making the decisions in the Upper House. Both are signatories of the letter that a group of 23 leaders had written to Sonia Gandhi.

Significantly, the president of Congress had created two groups, one for each House, in August. These groups, he said, would meet daily during the session and could also meet between sessions to discuss issues of Parliament. “Joint meetings can be called when necessary,” he had said, but sources said there have hardly been any.

Interestingly, the last day of the monsoon session of parliament in September had seen differences emerge within the congressional Lok Sabha leadership over whether to stay away during the president’s farewell speech. Congress and the other opposition parties had boycotted Rajya Sabha for the suspension of eight opposition MPs accused of creating a scandal during the passage of agricultural bills.

At Lok Sabha, many members argued that the party should do the same, although party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury argued that they should not stay away from the farewell function. Chowdhury’s argument was that the opposition of Congress was to the Government but not to Parliament as an institution and that the party’s deputies should be present during the national song so that the wrong message is not transmitted. But since the majority were in favor of a full boycott, he had to give in.

“In Lok Sabha, because they are elected members… they are accountable to the people in a more direct sense. So they reflect the kind of feedback that is available to them from the field, ”said a congressional Lok Sabha MP. “On the issue of farmers, sentiments were so high that it was felt that we should take a much more aggressive position than that taken in Rajya Sabha.”

Some Lok Sabha deputies in Congress claimed that the party leadership in Rajya Sabha agreed to the debate to facilitate a “grand farewell” to Azad. When contacted, one of the opposition leaders who were not part of Congress in Rajya Sabha echoed this.

“Many opposition parties, including the left and the DMK, were strongly opposed. Rajya Sabha had taken strong positions in the past. That was diluted. When Congress takes such a point of view … we gave in a bit because we thought it was wrong to send a message that the opposition is divided, “said one leader.” More so, when the NDA has a majority in the Upper House now. “

Unlike the first term, when it could stall bills, prompting the late Finance Minister Arun Jaitley once to ask how an “unelected” House could override the term of the “elected” House. For the BJP, the wheel may have completed the circle as well.

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