The Winter Session of Parliament ended on a reassuring note with the Prime Minister sharing a cup of tea with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Though she does not hold any post, Priyanka due to being a Gandhi is a powerful voice within the Congress. Her brother and leader of Opposition was out of town when the Lok Sabha Speaker invited both the Treasury Benches and the Opposition for the customary tea party at the end of a parliament session. But even if he had been in town, Rahul Gandhi wears his antagonism on his sleeve – it would have been difficult for him to sit down for a cup of tea with the very leaders he had traded bitter barbs with across the floor of the House. However Priyanka is made of a different mettle. She clearly has the maturity to sift between the political and the not so political. She is also shrewd enough to sheath her sword for a momentary cup of tea. This is the same rule book that the Prime Minister plays by – as does any other astute politician.
Moreover this kind of backchannelling is important otherwise how will the logjam of legislation be broken. Earlier in the Modi era it was late BJP leader and former cabiner minister Arun Jaitley who played this role. Post his demise the gap between the opposition and treasury benches has only widened. With COngress President Mallikarjun KHarge taking his cue from Rahul Gandhi in his dealings with the BJP he is not the right person to bridge this divide. Moreover there seems to be personal note of enmity between him and the PM. Priyanka though being a Gandhi and despite the fact that her husband Robert Vadra has been targetted by the ED, is still savvy enough to couch her pointed barbs against the BJP -as well as Modi – with a smile.
This is something that the PM appreciates for as mentioned earlier, he too couches his attacks in a similar manner. So if it is Priyanka from the opposition’s side who will reach out from the Treasury Benches? Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kirren Rijiju has the savvy and the right approach. His amicable demeanor is the right note to strike a rapport with Priyanka Gandhi. Otherwise there are other veterans from the Vajpayee era who have done business with the Congress before, such as Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh. In fact before meeting up with the pM, AMit SHah and Rajnath Singh at the Speaker’s Tea Party Priyanka had also called on the Cabinet Minister for Roads with a petition for her constituency and had been accorded a warm welcome. Hence any of these three names would work.
Now if only our leaders would read the signs and put such a mechanism in place for the public at large is sick of the repeated fighting and adjournments on the floor of the House. We want the House to function and our leaders to do what we have elected them for – to get down to legislation. And hopefully pass some citizen friendly laws instead of going on a renaming spree.
