NEW DELHI, 20 August 2003 — India’s governing coalition easily defeated an opposition no-trust motion yesterday after a bitter debate that included raucous protests and personal attacks.
Just before midnight, after a day and a half of debate, the vote was 312 for the government and 186 for the opposition.
“The no’s have it, the motion is negative,” Speaker Manohar Joshi told the lawmakers of Parliament’s lower house.
The defeat of the motion, brought by the opposition Congress party, proved Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s commanding majority in Parliament as the country gears up for important state elections in the fall and national elections next year.
The verdict, which was expected, could be a morale booster for Vajpayee’s 19-party coalition, but Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi also used the debate to accuse the government of everything from incompetence in protecting the country to corruption.
The no-confidence motion was brought after the Defense Ministry refused to disclose the findings of a report probing allegations of corruption in military purchases during a 1999 mini-war between India and Pakistan.
Speaking on the motion, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said it was the Congress party that had sabotaged democratic institutions.
She said the Congress party had a record of toppling opposition governments and brought legislation in Parliament excluding the offices of the president, vice president and prime minister from judicial purview
Yerram Naidu of the regional Telugu Desam Party (TDP) blamed the Congress Pparty for the communal divide in the country. Priya Ranjan Das Munshi of Congress attacked the government over alleged irregularities in defense purchases and communalism. Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal (Secular) said the government was neglecting the interest of the farmers.
The prime minister expressed anguish and anger at Gandhi’s indictment of his government, in which she called it irresponsible and “brazenly corrupt.” “We have come here after being voted by the people ... Who gave you the right to give us a verdict?” Vajpayee said, addressing Gandhi. “You are not ready for a test of power here.”
Gandhi, who used tough language in her opening and closing speeches and spoke with an Italian accent in English and Hindi, retorted: “When I talk of the nation, they talk of my style and language. When I talk of the problems of citizens, they make personal attacks on me.”
The winning vote was, however, short of the 323 votes that Vajpayee’s alliance had claimed it could secure in the 545-member house, called the Lok Sabha. Only 498 members voted. Two parties that are neither members of the ruling coalition nor allied with Congress had said they would abstain, possibly keeping their options open for potential alliances after the elections.
Indian newspapers yesterday described the debate, which was broadcast live on television, as a “curtain raiser” to national elections. “Battle lines harden before polls, gloves off,” the Indian Express said, referring to the bitter charges traded by lawmakers in Parliament.
Opposition lawmakers have accused Defense Minister George Fernandes of covering up information about military purchases.
Fernandes shot back Monday, reading excerpts from a book by a former US ambassador that allegedly said Washington paid money to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi — Sonia Gandhi’s mother-in-law — to thwart communists in the 1970s. The defense chief did not name the book.
India has been mostly ruled by Congress since winning independence in 1947. However, the party has lost in three elections held since 1996.
Now the party has dropped its former aversion to coalition politics in a desperate bid to regain power. This comes as an attempt to replicate Vajpayee’s success in carrying along a disparate coalition reflecting the regional aspirations and wide political spectrum of the world’s largest democracy.
“We have given you a map of a coalition government. Our government is running successfully for five years despite your opposition ... even the Congress is looking for friends now,” Vajpayee said in his speech.
India Says Pakistan Making Wild Allegations on ‘Terror Camps’
India dismissed Pakistan’s charges it is hosting “terror training camps” in Kashmir and along its borders as “wild allegations” and called on Islamabad yesterday to “act and speak responsibly” to advance the peace process.
“The more Pakistan makes such wild allegations, the less will we and the international community believe that it is serious in dealing with its responsibility to end cross-border terrorism against India,” an Indian government statement said.
In comments Monday, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan claimed India was operating “terror training camps” along the Line of Control dividing the Himalayan region between the South Asian rivals as well as on the Indian-Pakistan border.
