Bonhomie missing, 32 Bills remain pending in Parliament

The Centre had listed 32 Bills for passing in Parliament in this Monsoon Session, but after two weeks there is less sign of completing the government business following the face-off with the Opposition on the issue of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and inflation.

During the Monsoon Session so far, the Lok Sabha has worked approximately 16 hours and the Rajya Sabha 11 hours, however the Houses were scheduled to work for six hours daily.

During the face-off, four Lok Sabha members and 23 Rajya Sabha members were suspended and in the last two days of the past week, the Treasury benches created ruckus in the House over Congress' Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's remark against the President.

Chowdhury, meanwhile, has apologised to the President for his remark that he said had been made due to his poor command over Hindi. But the ruling party made it a plank to attack Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Amid the din, the government cleared the anti-doping Bill and Family Court Bill in the Lok Sabha.

The Opposition is slamming the government, alleging that it is not willing to hold discussion and is trying to corner the opposition. It is considered the government's responsibility to run the House, and for this the government keeps both front and back channels functional to reach out to all floor leaders.

The Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister is supposed to speak to floor leaders of all parties, especially opposition leaders and take them into confidence. That bonhomie, however, has been missing in the Modi Raj.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "With the suspension of Opposition MPs from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, it is abundantly clear that Modi Sarkar is in no mood to allow the Opposition to raise Real, URGENT issues being faced by the people of our country in Parliament."

The Congress has called a nationwide protest on August 5 against the price rise.