New Delhi:

Parliament’s winter session – its final week roiled by mud-slinging and protests by MPs over Amit Shah’s “Ambedkar is the fashion” remark and disruptions and fractious debates over the ‘one nation, one election’ push – concluded Friday afternoon, with a stern message from Rajya Sabha Chair.

“The world watches our democracy. Yet we fail our citizens through our conduct. These Parliamentary disruptions mock public trust and expectations. Our fundamental duty to serve with diligence lies neglected,” Jagdeep Dhankhar said.

“Where reasoned dialogue should prevail, we witness only chaos. I urge every Parliamentarian, regardless of party, to examine their conscience,” Mr Dhankhar, against whom the opposition also filed a no-confidence motion, that was slapped down on procedural grounds, lamented on X after adjourning the Upper House.

“We squander precious opportunities that could serve the greater good of our people. I hope MPs will introspect deeply and citizens exercise accountability.”

The world watches our democracy, yet we fail our citizens through our conduct. These Parliamentary disruptions mock public trust and expectations. Our fundamental duty to serve with diligence lies neglected.

Where reasoned dialogue should prevail, we witness only chaos. I urge… pic.twitter.com/yCfOsiatL9

— Vice-President of India (@VPIndia) December 20, 2024

An uneasy calm lay over Parliament this morning as MPs from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and (a suddenly united) opposition held protests and counterprotests, and traded allegations.

As the day dawned, opposition MPs rallied behind the Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and demanded Mr Shah resign and slammed the BJP for yesterday’s physical confrontation, while the ruling party massed outside Parliament targeting Mr Gandhi – against whom they have filed a dramatic ‘attempt to murder’ police complaint and accused of making a woman lawmaker feel “uncomfortable”.

READ | Police Case Against Rahul Gandhi For “Injuring” 2 BJP MPs

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav were among those who led the opposition’s charge. Ms Gandhi Vadra, who yesterday ripped into the BJP over the charges against her brother, today said the ruling party is “scared” because Mr Shah’s remarks had “exposed their true sentiments” about the iconic Dalit leader. She also criticised the BJP for lodging false police complaints against Mr Gandhi; ” Rahulji can never push anyone. I am his sister… I know him. Frankly, the country knows this too…”

#WATCH | Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra says, “This Government is scared. This Government is scared to have a discussion on Adani matter. It is scared of having any discussion. They know that their true sentiments for Ambedkar ji have come out. So, they are now scared of the… pic.twitter.com/SU9LR6xUss

— ANI (@ANI) December 20, 2024

Mr Yadav, meanwhile, demanded the BJP and Mr Shah apologise for the comment. “The insult to Babasaheb Ambedkar and the attitude of the BJP towards him… if we have to take the country forward, Babsaheb’s Constitution shows the way (but) the BJP is attempting to weaken it.”

READ | “If PM Respects Ambedkar…”: Congress’ Kharge Targets Amit Shah

In response, the BJP camp – which has lashed out at the Congress and Mr Gandhi over his alleged “assault” of two of its MPs, Pratap Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput – doubled down on its attacks.

Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey declared, “For the first time I saw the ugly face of this party”, and claimed he had seen Mr Gandhi “climbing up the Makar Dawar (the Parliament’s main door, outside which MPs pushed and shoved each other yesterday) … after climbing up, he pushed Pratap Sarangi ji… Mukesh Rajput ji got pushed… they (the Congress MPs) had no remorse… condemnable.”

#WATCH | Delhi | BJP MP Nishikant Dubey says, “…I saw Rahul Gandhi climbing up the Makar Dwar, so I and another leader saw this and we decided to give him space. After climbing up, he pushed Pratap Sarangi ji, Santosh Pandey ji who is next to us. Mukesh Rajput ji got pushed and… pic.twitter.com/Xy8TLovrDj

— ANI (@ANI) December 20, 2024

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju batted away the Congress’ demands for Mr Shah to quit and said, “It is the Congress that should apologise… it is not left with anything to say so they have resorted to manhandling. Our MPs say there should be police action against Rahul Gandhi.”

On Thursday there was utter bedlam outside Parliament after MPs from the ruling party and the opposition clashed, pushing and jostling each other while screaming and shouting slogans.

READ | Parliament Protests Turn Into BJP, Congress’ Injury vs Injury Claims

The injury to the BJP’s Mr Sarangi – visuals showed him with a bandage on his head and being taken in an ambulance – and the hospitalization of Mr Rajput fuelled the party’s counterattack. A trio of BJP MPs, including ex-Union Minister Anurag Thakur, then filed a complaint at a nearby police station.

Not to be outdone, the Congress then claimed an injury to party boss Mallikarjun Kharge and filed a complaint of its own. Delhi Police has turned both complaints over to its Crime Branch. The party also called the ‘attempt to murder’ complaint a “badge of honour for defending Babasaheb’s legacy”.

READ | “Injuries On My Knees”: M Kharge After Parliament Showdown

Amit Shah’s Ambedkar Remark

All of this followed Mr Shah’s remark about Dr Ambedkar – regarded as the architect of the Constitution – which were delivered at the tail end of a four-day debate on the august text.

“It has become the fashion to say ‘Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar…’ If they (the opposition) took God’s name so many times, they will get a place in heaven,” Mr Shah quipped.

The opposition’s reaction was instantaneous and furious, and the ferocity of it appeared to unsettle Mr Shah and the BJP. A normally combative Home Minister – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s No 2 and one of the most powerful figures in the ruling party – issued a statement on the row.

And Mr Modi himself led high-ranking cabinet members in defending Mr Shah.

READ | “Congress Anti-Ambedkar, Twisted My Words”: Amit Shah Responds

“They (the Congress) have distorted the comment I made in the Rajya Sabha,” Mr Shah said, while Mr Modi thundered on X, “If the Congress and its rotten ecosystem think malicious lies can hide their misdeeds of years, especially insults to Dr Ambedkar, they are gravely mistaken!”

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New Delhi:

Two bills to amend the Constitution – and allow simultaneous federal and state elections by 2034 – were sent to a 39-member joint parliamentary committee Friday morning, as the final act of a Lok Sabha winter session roiled by unseemly Congress vs BJP, protest vs counterprotest drama over Home Minister Amit Shah’s “Ambedkar is the fashion” remark. The Lower House was then adjourned sine die.

Congress MPs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Manish Tewari and the Trinamool’s Kalyan Banerjee and Saket Gokhale are among the opposition faces on the committee, while former Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Sambit Patra, and Anil Baluni will represent the government.

Others on the panel – expanded from 31 after smaller parties also demanded representation – are from Maharashtra’s rival Shiv Sena and NCP factions and two of the BJP’s allies; the latter, though, doesn’t yet include either Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JDU or Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP, both of which are seen as propping the BJP’s government at the centre.

READ | ‘1 Nation, 1 Poll’ Panel To Include Priyanka Gandhi, Anurag Thakur

The JPC will have an initial term of 90 days but this can be extended. It has been tasked with holding “wider consultations” on five contentious amendments to the Constitution, which include limiting and/or altering, and linking terms of state and union territory assemblies to the Lok Sabha.

Among those to be consulted is the Election Commission, the country’s top poll body and which will have the extraordinarily mammoth task of organising the simultaneous elections.

The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha this week by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, and triggered fierce protests from the opposition.

READ | Congress’ “Two-Thirds Majority” Jab At BJP Over ‘One Nation, One Poll’

The Congress and two INDIA bloc allies – the Samajwadi Party and the Trinamool, neither of whom have seen eye-to-eye this Parliament session – united to condemn what they said were attempts to subvert the Constitution and the country’s federal character, by robbing legislatures of independence.

The proposed switch to simultaneous polls has, however, been backed by the ruling BJP, which has claimed streamlining the electoral calendar – which sees multiple state and local body polls every year – offers multiple economic benefits, including preventing ‘policy paralysis’ and lowering costs.

What Is ‘One Nation, One Election’?

Simply put, it means all Indians will vote in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections – to pick central and state representatives – in the same year, if not at the same time.

As of 2024, only four states voted with a Lok Sabha election – Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Odisha voted alongside the April-June Lok Sabha election. Three others – Maharashtra, Haryana, and Jammu and Kashmir – voted in October-November.

NDTV Special | ‘One Nation, One Election’: What Is It And How Will It Work

The rest follow a non-synced five-year cycle; Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Telangana, for example, were among those voted at different times last year, while Delhi and Bihar will vote in 2025 and Tamil Nadu and Bengal are among those that will vote in 2026.

Can ‘One Nation, One Election’ Work?

Not without the amendments to the Constitution and that amendment being ratified by the governments of all states and union territories, as well as, possibly, major political parties.

These are Article 83 (term of Parliament), Article 85 (dissolution of Lok Sabha by the President), Article 172 (duration of state legislatures), and Article 174 (dissolution of state legislatures), as well as Article 356 (imposition of President’s Rule).

Legal experts have warned that failure to pass such amendments will leave the proposal open to attack on charges of violating India’s federal structure.

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New Delhi:
A Constitutional amendment bill – to permit holding Lok Sabha and Assembly elections together, part of the ‘one nation, one election’ push – will likely be tabled in the Lok Sabha this morning, and then be sent to a parliamentary committee.

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