Ahead of Budget Session, joint meeting holds out hope

NEW DELHI: Vice-president Hamid Ansari’s initiative to build a consensus between the government and the Opposition by holding an all-party meeting appeared to have been positive, with both sides expressing hope that the Rajya Sabha will function and important legislative business including passage of the Goods and Services Tax Bill as well as debates on key issues will be taken up.

Prime minister Narendra Modi attended the meeting at the invitation of the vice-president. During his intervention, Modi said similar discussions in the past few days as well as this effort — which he described as a “good meeting”— have given positive indications that the House will function normally. He reiterated the government view that it is ready to debate and discuss every issue that the opposition wants and hoped that the session will work.

Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad demanded that issues including the controversy in Jawaharlal Nehru University, the suicide of Dalit student Rohith Vemula, law and order situation in Delhi — where lawyers had attacked journalists and JNU students — price rise and plight of farmers should be debated in this session.

Ansari expressed satisfaction that all parties had struck a positive note and hoped that the House will function smoothly in the forthcoming budget session. “The time has come to assure the public that parliamentary democracy does work and is sensitive to the needs of the people,” Ansari said in the meeting.