AFTER EFFECTS OF THE NO CONFIDENCE MOTION AGAINST BJP

  10-Aug-2018 13:50:00

BJPLok SabhaCongressTDP



The No Confidence Motion against the BJP government has made waves throughout the nation. An enthusiastic speech accompanied with a hug and wink of the Congress party president Rahul Gandhi to the prime minister has raised his status to that of a worthy critic throughout the media of the country. Even though the motion got dismissed with comfortable 325 votes against it as opposed to 126 in its favour, it has left those in support of BJP a little shaken.

THE TDP

It all began when the Telugu Desam Party was not granted it request for special-category status by the central government. Special category status according to the national development council (NDC), part of former planning commission (now NITI AAYOG) was given to states with a) hilly and difficult terrain b)low population density c)low resource based)strategic location along the borders e) economic and infrastructure backwardness f) non-viable nature of states finance g) sizable share of tribal population. After the loss of its capital Hyderabad to Telangana, the special category status was to help the state revive its economy by attracting more investments. It will also include benefits like preferential treatment in the allocation of central funds, lesser excise duties etc.

During the elections of 2014, the Congress party had agreed to extend the special category status to Andhra Pradesh and BJP govt which had been the opposition at the time had agreed with this as well. But everything changed with 14th finance commission, which did away with the idea of special category status by restricting it to the existing hilly states of Uttarakhand, Jammu &Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh and Northeast states which enjoy special category status. The 14th finance commission recommended allocation of grants with tax devolution to break the inequalities between states. This made Andhra Pradesh already a recipient of tax deficit. Therefore, if the central government had granted a special category status to Andhra Pradesh it would have meant limiting the work of the 14th finance commission.

Other allegations raised by the opposition against the current government had included the non-transparency in disclosing the purchase price of Rafael jets that India purchased from France, China –India face off at Doklam and the surgical strikes.

The prime minister dealt with all the questions raised against him and the government in a very scathing manner. He called out the opposition over its childish behaviour and said that such petty tricks threatened the internal security of not only India but France as well. Referring to the statements issued by the French government after the opposition repeatedly put up accusations. He showed his disappointment at the opposition on undermining the heroic actions of security forces during surgical strikes and the Doklam standoff.

Conclusion

During the past five years of its rule, the BJP government has taken a number of reformatory steps towards the improvement of the economy which was left in shambles after 10 years of repeated scams and corruption cases under the Congress government. Demonetisation and the introduction of GST (goods and services tax bill) were two major decisions of the government which received both positive and negative responses from the masses. Even though both these decisions were expected to bring in immense stability to the condition of the economy they failed to reach the grass root levels of society. Small businesses and industries were heavily affected and the annual GDP faced a fall from 7.1 %to 6.8 %.

All India campaigns like Swach Bharat Abhiyan, UjjwalaYojana, Beti Bachao Beti Padhaoetc did manage to break some ground with the masses and portrayed the goodwill of the government along with the sincerity in its efforts. This was the 27th time a no confidence has been moved in the Lok Sabha. This includes the vote of no confidence against Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

The Congress party after the dismissal of the motion from Lok Sabha said that it had no regrets about the dismissal of the motion as its agenda of denting the BJP armour for upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections was successful. This statement holds less true as the allegations against the government were nullified during the 12-hour-long debate. Moreover, the BJP government throughout its term has been carrying on an agenda of spreading “Hindutva” and “saffronisation “throughout the country. Increased cases of Dalit killings, cow vigilantism and Mob lynchings have already been diminishing the Modi charisma that spread throughout the country during 2014. The recent controversy over the citizenship amendment bill 2016 which aims at legalising Non-Muslims immigrants from neighbouring countries caused wide protests in the northeast states. Then the decision to completely overhaul the higher education system by dismissing university grants commission faced the disapproval of the academia. Therefore, we could say that the BJP government will be reaping what it sows if it faces lesser support from the masses in the upcoming elections and to give Congress the credit of being worthy opposition would be still unfair.

By –EKTA BHARDWAJ