A victory for Opposition: Congress

By Javed M. Ansari

NEW DELHI, DEC. 19. Having succeeded in getting its motion expressing disagreement with the Prime Minister's statement passed in the Rajya Sabha, the Congress today claimed that the Opposition had won the battle of wits against the Government on the Ayodhya issue. ``This is the first time a Prime Minister has been censured in such a manner, and the credit must go to the Opposition,'' said the senior Congress leader, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee.

Congress leaders said the Government had initially refused to accede to the Opposition demand for a discussion under Rule 184 in the Lok Sabha and Rule 170 in the Rajya Sabha, which entail voting. However, after a prolonged parliamentary impasse it was forced to agree to a discussion in both Houses under the provisions demanded. ``After an eyeball to eyeball confrontation, it was the Government that blinked,'' said a CWC member.

Talking to reporters after the motion moved by him was passed in the Rajya Sabha, Mr. Mukherjee drew a parallel between a somewhat similar motion moved in 1978 against the Morarji Desai government following differences between the then Prime Minister and his deputy, Mr. Charan Singh. The demand in 1978 was for a commission or a parliamentary committee to look into the acts of omission or commission alleged by Mr. Singh, which the Government had rejected. ``This time we have succeeded in showing that at least one House of Parliament disagrees with the Prime Minister's statement,'' the Congress leader said.

The Opposition was aware that even after its defeat the Government was not morally bound to quit, ``but we have at least succeeded in censuring the Prime Minister''. This was the only constitutional avenue available to the Opposition to register its disapproval. The Prime Minister's assurance that his party would abide by the court verdict also did not hold good, Mr. Mukherjee said. Similar assurances had been given to the Supreme Court in 1992 and yet the Sangh Parivar demolished the mosque. ``The commitment to the Supreme court was not honoured and one of the BJP Chief Ministers was jailed for it.''

On the discordant noises on the issue from within the NDA and the BJP, he said, ``the Prime Minister says we will abide by the court verdict while one ally asks for Muslims to be defranchised, while the VHP says the temple will be built at the disputed site itself.''

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