Jairam Ramesh interview: If Centre wants to adopt bulldozer tactics in Parliament, they will be met with a counter bulldozer

The Congress is upset over Kodikunnil Suresh not being made the pro tem Speaker. How do you see this development. Do you see this as a sign of confrontation?  

I think it’s a continuation of the bulldozer mentality. I don’t think that the appointment of Kiren Rijiju, whom I know very well and is a good personal friend, inspire confidence that there will be a different way of dealing with Parliament. And the pro tem Speaker issue certainly has given further evidence.

By all convention and tradition, Kodikunnil Suresh should have been the pro tem Speaker. There were only two legitimate claimants for this post: Kodikunnil Suresh and the other one is Virendra Kumar. And since Mr. Kumar is a Union Minister, therefore, it should have been Mr. Suresh. I think it is going to be the same bulldozing approach that they have had in the last ten years.

But now the Opposition numbers are quite different in this Lok Sabha.

One hundred percent. The Opposition is not going to take it lying down. I don’t think that the Congress and the INDIA parties are going to allow this time. It cannot be the standard Modi-Shah [Prime Minister Narendra Modi-Home Minister Amit Shah] way of dealing with Parliament and bulldozer tactics. The NDA and the INDIA group are almost evenly matched. We have the numbers and we know that the 2024 mandate has been a personal, political and moral defeat of a non-biological PM. That is the political reality.

This almost sounds like a threat, as if saying “we will not allow the House to function if you don’t agree to our demands”.

No, no. We have to be heard, Bills have to be debated and sent to the standing committees for further deliberations and so on. You cannot push through like the three criminal justice bills suspending 145 MPs from both Houses.

Take the case of relocating the statues of [Mahatma] Gandhi ji and Dr. [Bhim Rao] Ambedkar. There Is a committee on statues and portraits, which was not even constituted in the 17th Lok Sabha. All the statues, without any consultation, have been relocated and given some grandiose name called Prerna Stala.

These are all signals that the bulldozing tactics, my way or Mr. Modi’s highway approach and not Nitin Gadkari’s [laughs].

If they want to persist with it, well they are now going to be met with a counter bulldozer.

What are your main issues for this special session of Parliament?

This is a short session as the first two days will be oath taking, the third day will be Speaker’s election and the fourth day will be the President’s Address. But there are very urgent issues. The whole issue of NEET [National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test] is a very urgent issue. On July 1, the three laws that were enacted in the previous session of Parliament to replace the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Evidence Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure, come into effect. These were controversial and opposed tooth and nail, but they were passed when 145 MPs had been suspended from both Houses of Parliament. These three draconian laws were passed in a most undemocratic and brazen manner.  

Would the INDIA bloc consider putting up a candidate to contest the Speaker’s election if the government doesn’t offer the deputy Speaker’s position to the Opposition?

These are issues on which ball-by-ball commentaries cannot be given. What happens will be subject to discussion, negotiations amongst the INDIA group leaders. Mr. [Congress President Mallikarjun] Kharge, who has generally been coordinating the meeting of leaders and floor leaders, will be meeting from the June 24 onwards.

We had the last five years, the 17th Lok Sabha was the only Lok Sabha in history to function without a deputy Speaker. In the 15th Lok Sabha [under Congress-led UPA II], Karia Munda, who was from the BJP, held the post. Even in the 16th Lok Sabha, there was a deputy Speaker.

All I will say is that the BJP and Mr. Modi seems to be in a mood to continue with his bulldozer tactics. This only strengthens our resolve and our determination to confront him far more forcibly in this time than we did in the 16th and 17th Lok Sabha.

What about the Leader of the Opposition’s (LoP) post in the Lok Sabha? There is still no clarity if Rahul Gandhi will take up this role?

There’s no constitutional requirement to announce the LOP immediately. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) met and requested Mr. Rahul Gandhi to take over the position of the Leader of the Opposition. He is mindful of the sentiments of the members of the CWC. So, I think a decision on this will be taken by him very soon. 

But usually the convention is that the LoP opens the debate on the Motion of Thanks to President’s Address.

I think in the next couple of days, it should get decided. But the sentiment of the Congress MPs is very clear. The sentiment of the INDIA parties is also very clear, if you see the warmth and the way they greeted Mr. Gandhi on his 54th birthday on the 19th June. So, yeah the party MPs, the leaders have all expressed their views. And I am sure Mr. Gandhi is weighing all these factors and will take a decision soon.