NDA faces stress test while allies set terms
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Waqf Board & Broadcasting Bills face NDA scrutiny
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, August 13: In a span of one-week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre stepped back on two showcase initiatives in the third term of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) dispensation. First, the Waqf Board amendment bill was sent to a joint parliamentary committee, and now the broadcast regulations bill has been withdrawn.
Informed sources claimed that the two key NDA allies – the Janata Dal (United) and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) – asserted their weights in the ruling alliance to water down the bravado of the Modi’s ministers. While parliamentary committees had largely been forgotten in the first two terms of the Modi-led NDA government, the Waqf Board Amendment Bill found shelter in the joint committee consisting of the members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
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The Broadcasting Regulation Bill was shrouded in secrecy amid reports that it had watermark to trace even its circulation while it was selectively shared among the ‘stakeholders’. The bill, in the current form, if given parliamentary sanctity would have scorched the content creation by the alternative media, while also making life miserable of independent journalists.
The JD (U) leadership is growing miffed at the Waqf Board amendment bill. The Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, still maintains hopes that the Muslims will vote for his party in the next year’s Assembly elections in the state.
The JD (U) continues to hold a double face with the party MPs competing with the members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in baying for the Opposition blood in parliament while the Bihar chief minister has gone into a silent mode.
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The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Chandra Babu Naidu, heavily leans on the Muslim vote base, and the TDP is also skeptical of the Waqf Board Amendment Bill. Both Naidu and Kumar are learnt to have been “amused” at the Broadcasting Regulations Bill, said the insiders in the two parties.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar yesterday told reporters in Mumbai that his party, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), would ensure that there is no harm to the interests of the Muslims from the Waqf Board Amendment Bill.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in a media statement last evening announced the withdrawal of the Broadcasting Regulations Bill. The legislative proposal piloted by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had been facing the brickbats of the activists and independent media persons for its attempt to arm the government with an “overarching power to muzzle freedom of speech”.
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