Why Special Parliament Session?
Sixteen political parties opposed to India have written to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, demanding a special session of Parliament to discuss the situation in the country arising out of the terrorist incident of Pahalgam massacre. The intention behind this demand of the opposition parties is to discuss the military 'Operation Sindoor' launched by India after the Pahalgam incident. The opposition is asking many questions to the government in this matter and saying how many fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force fell in this operation. Also, why was the operation, which started on May 6, suddenly postponed to May 10? In this context, the opposition is also questioning the announcement of US President Donald Trump, in which he said that the US has played a major role in the ceasefire between India and Pakistan and it is he who mediated and brokered the ceasefire. However, the Ministry of External Affairs has responded to this, in which it said that no third country has played any role in the suspension of the operation or ceasefire and the ceasefire was achieved after talks between the military commanders of the two countries. It seems that the opposition does not agree with this view of the government because even after the statement of the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. Trump has repeated his statement many times.
On the other hand, from the Prime Minister to Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, they have announced that Operation Sindoor is not over, it has only been postponed and it is going on. In such a situation, if the opposition parties are demanding a special session of Parliament, then there seems to be a hidden desire to gain political advantage in it. In independent India, the only time so far was in 1962 when a special session of Parliament was called on the demand of the opposition when India lost the war with China. The demand to convene this session was made by a delegation of the then opposition parties. I met Jawaharlal Nehru. The delegation was led by the then Jana Sangh leader Late Jana Sangh. Atal Bihari Vajpayee did it. Apart from this, all the 13 special sessions of the Parliament of India have been called so far at the behest of the governments. In fact, a special one-day session of Parliament was called on the midnight of 14 and 15 August 1947, in which power was transferred to Indians in place of the British. The existing Constituent Assembly at that time was converted into a temporary Lok Sabha. Therefore, independent India began with a one-day special session of Parliament. But after this, special sessions of 1972, 77, 91, 92, 97, 2008, 12, 15, 17 and 2023 were called by the governments.
The latest of the last special sessions, the five-day special session of 2023, was called by the Modi government when the new Parliament building was to be inaugurated. It was in this session that the Women's Reservation Bill was passed. Except in 1962, all the special sessions were called by the governments in power. The most important of these was the two-day session of the Lok Sabha convened in July in 2008 in which the then Manmohan Singh government won the vote of confidence of the House on the issue of the nuclear deal with the US. Earlier in 2017, the Modi government had called a special session to pass the bill related to the Goods and Goods Tax (GST). Earlier in 2015, the Modi government had called a two-day special session on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar. In 2012, the Manmohan Singh government had called a one-day special session on Sunday to mark 60 years of the Indian Parliament. Often, these special sessions were called by governments to highlight the bright sides of the Indian Republic. Therefore, the demand of the opposition cannot be compared with the special session of 1962 because at that time India was losing in the Indo-China war and Chinese forces came to the city of Tezpur in the Indian state of Assam during that war.
At present, the Indian forces have relieved the Pakistani forces and have destroyed nine terrorist bases located there and 11 Pakistani military airports have suffered heavy damage. India has been victorious through this Operation Sindoor. For this reason, the Modi government does not seem to agree to convene this session. In order to bring Pakistan to its senses, it has also scrapped the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan and warned that any future terrorist action on Indian soil by Pakistan will be considered as an act of war. This can be understood from the Modi government's tough attitude towards Pakistan. However, among the 16 opposition parties who have signed the demand to convene the session, the most experienced leader of the country and Nationalist Congress President Shri Sharad Pawar, does not have the signature. Mr. Pawar, who was also the Defence Minister during the Narasimha Rao government, cannot be ignored for his sharp grip on military affairs. He went to the extent of saying that there was no need for a special session.