It’s all hot air, mere rhetoric

“Today is an important day in our Parliamentary democracy. I am sure my fellow MP colleagues will rise to the occasion and ensure a constructive, comprehensive and disruption-free debate. We owe this to the people and the makers of our Constitution. India will be watching us closely,” this is what the Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted before the no-confidence motion was taken up in Lok Sabha.

The TDP initiated the debate saying, “It is not a war between BJP and TDP; It is a war between ‘Majority and Morality’. It’s a war between the Modi Regime and Andhra Pradesh; It is a war between the Modi Regime and the 5 Crore people of AP.”

“You all must think that I have a lot of hatred in my heart against the Prime Minister but actually that is not the case. In fact, Modi Ji, the BJP and the RSS taught me the meaning of being a member of the Congress party. They have taught me the meaning of being Indian.

They have taught me the meaning of being a Hindu and a devotee of Lord Shiva. Being an Indian and being a Congressman means no matter what falsehood someone speaks against you, you do not harbour ill-will against them. For this, I thank you,” Rahul Gandhi quipped.

But then what did the no-confidence motion achieve? Even the two Telugu States did not stand united in cornering the government on the provisions of AP State Re-Organisation Act 2014, which have not yet been implemented.

The Congress party also failed to show seriousness about the problems of Andhra Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi had said that if given 15 minutes to speak in Parliament, there would be an earthquake. While no tremors were felt there was much of high-voltage drama.

When the Lok Sabha assembled after a 10-minute break, resuming his speech Rahul Gandhi said the lady member from Akali Dal smiled at him perhaps in appreciation of his speech. His body language made it appear that he was delivering a non-serious speech.

His act of walking to the other side of the aisle and hugging the Prime Minister and winking after coming back to his seat was in absolute bad taste. The Speaker Sumitra Mahajan even remarked that he had lowered the dignity of the Lok Sabha.

While showing lip sympathy towards the anguish expressed by the TDP MP Galla Jayadev all that Rahul Gandhi said was that AP was not the lone victim of what he called political weapon of 21st century. He said the wounds have been inflicted by Jumla tribe.

You are not alone in the fight against Jumla tribe, he said. The rest of his speech was focussed on other issues like Rafale deal, failure of providing two crore jobs every year.

Few hours later, the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France took a serious exception to the claim of the Congress President, Rahul Gandhi, on the secrecy clause of Rafael deal and called Rahul's bluff.

Rahul went ahead to claim that he had spoken to the President of France after the Indian government claimed it could reveal the content due to a secrecy call and was told that there was no agreement. "You go ahead and tell this to the entire world that there is no such thing" the French President told, Rahul claimed.

The Congress party leaders who a day before the no-confidence claimed that the motion was not to pull down the government but "to show the mirror to the government," highlight the various issues concerning the people of the country and ensure that the truth reaches them seemed to have failed. Being the major opposition, the Congress party should have done some good home work to put the government in dock. The unity that was shown in moving the no-confidence motion did not reflect in mounting attack on the government.

All that the motion indicated was the mode of election campaign these parties would adopt. The TDP would intensify its campaign explaining how “insensitive” the Centre continues to be towards the injustice meted to the state and how it had failed to rebut the argument of the TDP MPs in the Parliament.

The TRS highlighted the non-seriousness of the 'other parties' in the House in discussing the subject matter of the no-trust move. The party presented its charter of demands without mincing words. It urged the Centre to amend the AP Reorganization Act, 2014 to re-merge the seven mandals of Khammam districts with Telangana State to undo the injustice done to the latter by the BJP-led NDA Government and the TDP.

It also questioned the Finance Minister in releasing funds and grants announced by bodies like NITI Aayog for the developmental works of Telangana. The TRS MP showcased how the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had made certain quick moves to take the state forward in the direction of achieving golden Telangana.

The TRS, it is now clear, will try to keep the sentiment alive by talking about how BJP had done injustice by merging seven mandals with Andhra Pradesh and its failure to set up Bayyaram steel factory. While expecting generous funding from the Centre for “never before seen or heard of schemes” conceived by the Chief Minister, they also want other benefits on a par with the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh.

The discussion brought to fore how little the Centre cares for Southern states particularly the Andhra Pradesh and the anguish of the Telugu people. The BJP is going to continue with its old argument, “We have done everything. You are not utilising our help properly.” BJP has fulfilled 87% of the assurances, it will maintain.

But then, credit must be given to Chandrababu Naidu for drawing the attention of the nation and every political party to the functioning style of Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine in the country.

While the speech of TDP MP Galla Jayadev was appreciated by all, the Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan who is known for his twitter war found fault with the TDP and felt that it had lost a great chance. What he meant by that he only can explain.

He said after losing precious three-and-a-half years, there was no point in making useless speeches, he tweeted. It is really difficult to understand what Pawan really thought about no-confidence. What is notable is that even now Pawan did not say word against Modi.

On the other hand, the YSRCP has lost a golden opportunity to put forward its view in Lok Sabha as all its MPs had resigned. It is now certain that the issue of Special Category Status will continue to be the main poll plank in Andhra Pradesh. The BJP will continue to fire its guns over the shoulders of YSRCP and Jana Sena.