It is litmus test for Naidu
It will be an all-out war of words during the winter session of the Parliament this time with the anti-BJP Opposition - a coalition of 19 ideologically not in sync parties assembled by an aggressive Nara Chandrababu Naidu trying to take on Narendra Modi in a stated bid to 'save democracy' and thereby 'save the country’ and the BJP trying to bulldoze it as ever.
The Opposition which is coming to terms with the ground realities and realising the need to put up a united face has already put in place a its strategy on the lines suggested by Naidu. The very first day of the session will be witnessing the results of the closely fought semi-finals - Assembly elections of five States - coming in early even as the session gets unfolded. The results will have a bearing on the decibel levels of the House either way, whether the BJP retains its sheen, or the Opposition unseats it.
The BJP leadership will always seek comfort in the argument that even if it loses the Hindi belt it would be reasonable enough as two of the governments have already put in three terms at least. Rajasthan politics anyway being revolving door politics, the only surprise will be if the Raje government retains power. The Modi government will be looking to push some important Bills during the session as he needs to get legislative approval for these laws brought in as ordinances. Lack of numbers in Rajya Sabha rendered the Modi government helpless in passing the Bills pending in the Rajya Sabha and hence the ordinances.
At present, there are three ordinances in operation, and the government will have to get the relevant Bills passed in Parliament within six weeks from the date of first sitting of winter session, failing which they will expire. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage), Ordinances, 2018 (popularly known as Triple Talaq Law) is considered very important social reform pushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the welfare of Muslim women, who have been subjected to instant divorce by way of just an oral utterance thrice in quick succession. The ordinance to take over the functioning of Medical Council of India and appoint a board of governors to manage its affairs is another important one.
The Companies (Amendment) Ordinance is also pending. There will be stiff resistance to all these given the fact that other issues have started dominating the political discourse like Rafael, attack on institutions like the CBI, ED and the misuse of IT and other agencies against the Opposition leaders. In fact, the last one has become the bone contention with BJP vengefully attacking the Congress and TDP leaders using these. Naidu has already made it a national issue and is firming up the Opposition to come together against it. Modi's policy is to create an Opposition-mukt Bharat and that is certainly not democracy which needs a healthy Opposition. That is what Naidu is precisely talking about. The session will also prove whether Naidu becomes successful in queering the ground for Modi ahead of the general elections next year.