Amid BJP-Congress standoff, stage set for Constitution debate in Lok Sabha today

Lawmakers will begin on Friday a rare and landmark debate on the Constitution to mark the 75th year of its adoption against the backdrop of a bitter political face-off between the government and the Opposition that has jammed Parliament and embroiled even the vice-president with the INDIA bloc demanding his removal.

The Constitution debate will take place in the Lok Sabha on December 13 and 14, and in the Rajya Sabha on December 16 and 17.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have traded allegations over the last week over alleged links of the opposition party to US billionaire George Soros and bribery charges against the Adani Group. The ongoing commotion is likely to steer narratives during the debate. Some lawmakers from the ruling and Opposition sides didn’t rule out the possibility of the debate on the Constitution turning into an all-out verbal war between the two sides.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh, the most experienced minister of the National Democratic Alliance — will open the debate in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The discussions will continue on Saturday and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply to the debate in the Lower House.

Union home minister Amit Shah is likely to initiate the debate in the Rajya Sabha on December 16, said people aware of developments. The Congress might field both Rahul Gandhi and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi as speakers during the debate in the Lok Sabha.

BJP, Congress issue whips

Both the BJP and the Congress have issued a three line whip for all its Lok Sabha members to be present in the House on December 13 and 14.

“All BJP members in Lok Sabha are hereby informed that the 75th Anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of India will be taken up in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the 13th of December and Saturday, the 14th of December 2024. All members of the BJP in Lok Sabha are, therefore, requested to be positively present in the House throughout both days i.e. Friday, the 13th of December and Saturday, the 14th of December 2024 and support the government’s stand,” the official statement of the BJP said.

The Congress called a meeting of its parliamentary strategy group on Thursday evening to discuss the plan for the debate.

After Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, met Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday to end the deadlock in the Lower House, the proceedings were largely smooth and the amendments to the disaster management act was cleared after a marathon debate.

BJP target Congress over George Soros issue

But day before the debate, BJP’s Nishikant Dubey again targeted the Congress on the George Soros issue, alleging that the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) is backed by the Soros Foundation and the US, and that Rahul Gandhi’s US trips were funded by the Global Knowledge Initiative,a think tank that got funding from Soros.

Dubey’s statements were seen as a trailer of a section of the BJP’s line of attack during the Constitution debate. Dubey alleged that OCCRP’s goal is to disrupt Parliament’s functioning.

“There is a French organisation named Mediapart that issued a report on the OCCRP, Organized Crime and Corruption Project, and the Soros. Foundation. The Soros foundation and the US are the ones who are helping the OCCRP. OCCRP’s work is, how to bond the Parliament of India. And not allowing Parliament to run,” he said.

Mediapart, however, accused the BJP of “instrumentalising” its report to “serve its political agenda” and “press freedom”.

The BJP MP raised serious allegations about the Congress’s connections with the American billionaire. He also asked whether the party’s leadership had any relationship with Open Society Foundation’s vice president Salil Shetty, who had participated in the Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022.

“I want to ask the Congress, what is your connection with Salil Shetty of Open Society Foundation? He has also participated in Bharat Jodo Yatra. Has he funded the Congress Yatra?” he questioned.

In the Upper House, BJP president and Union health minister JP Nadda led the Treasury bench’s onslaught against the Opposition over the latter’s attempt to bring a notice seeking Dhankhar’s removal.

“At a press conference on Wednesday, Khargeji criticised the chairman. This is objectionable and condemnable. It sets a wrong precedent. This needs to be condemned by one and all,” Nadda said.

In an apparent reference to Rahul Gandhi, Nadda alleged that a senior Congress leader was seen making a video of the Chairman’s mimicry in the recent past and said, “The Congress has no interest in democracy and no respect for parliamentary practices.”

“What is the relationship between George Soros and Sonia Gandhi? The country wants to know. Soros gives billions of dollars of investment to destabilise the country,” Nadda added.

This triggered a further uproar at a time when former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was also in the House.

The aggressive stance of the BJP, particularly in the Rajya Sabha, raised doubts if the debate on the Constitution can be completed without disruptions and protests.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien rejected both the BJP and Congress’s narratives, and said, “We are very clear that we must use Parliament to hold the government accountable on people’s issues such as unemployment, inflation, Manipur situation.”

O’Brien is a part of a growing tribe of leaders who are trying to push new narratives beyond the cacophony over Adani and Soros. Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav has already declared that her party was not getting into the two issues.