The winter session has begun and it looks like being a stormy session. The Narendra Modi government is only six months old and yet it has a lengthy legislative agenda including insurance and GST bills as well as proposed changes in land acquisition and coal mining. Reform is the Modi Sarkar’s top priority. The Opposition is of course very small in the Lok Sabha but it proposes to garner its comparative strength in the Rajya Sabha to get to grips with the Treasury benches. What is a healthy sign is that the present Opposition can put up a united front as it did on the black money issue. Results of Assembly elections in J&K, Jharkhand and Delhi will also impact on Lok Sabha proceedings. But the main protagonist is the government which cannot be said to have got off to a flying start. It has denied the Congress the role of leader of the Opposition which has made negotiations between the ruling party and the Congress a tough job. Healthy governance demands that the ruling party and the main Opposition party should join hands on issues of public interest. Prospects of that happening are remote. The BJP itself had cut a sorry figure in the previous Lok Sabha, playing an obstructionist role even on the insurance bill which it now wishes to adopt.
What then is the challenge for the BJP government? It is difficult to see it playing a persuasive role. A joint sitting of both houses to pass crucial legislation is not ruled out. But with its huge majority in the Lok Sabha, its recourse to it will be a confession of failure. At the same time, the Opposition has to play a meaningful role putting together its limited resources and selecting issues on which it should take a firm stand.