India’s new VP will have a political challenge: Managing the Rajya Sabha

Jagdeep Dhankar, if elected, can look back at Narayanan, Shekhawat, Ansari and Naidu’s tenure to see the changing nature of the Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: After widespread cross-voting in the presidential elections, all eyes are on the vice-presidential elections scheduled on August 6.

While opposition parties are struggling to forge unity over Margaret Alva’s candidature, the ruling-NDA is confident of its candidate former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s victory. 

While opposition parties are struggling to forge unity over Margaret Alva’s candidature, the ruling-National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is confident of its candidate former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s victory.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has a comfortable majority in the electoral college comprising members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, is banking on Dhankhar’s familiarity with constitutional matters and parliamentary affairs to help steer the Upper House of Parliament. The party has 394 votes out of a total strength of 780 members of parliament that make up the electoral college.

So why is the Vice-President (VP)’s role so crucial to the government's plan? HT looks at the tenure of the last four VPs, the challenges they faced, and important decisions and initiatives taken by them for the smooth functioning of the House of Elders.

The role, the challenge, the man

The election is crucial, as the VP is the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha and is responsible for conducting the sessions and matters related to the Upper House. This makes political management an essential skill for the incumbent.

As Indian politics moved from a Congress-dominated system to a more diverse and fragmented landscape, regional parties grew in strength, as did the BJP. Legislative majorities in state assemblies saw an increase in their representation in the Rajya Sabha. In the past decade, as the BJP’s strength has grown in states, the arithmetic in the Rajya Sabha has changed. The party is now the single largest formation in the upper house and is often able to pass contentious legislative proposals through the chamber, with the support of both existing partners and outside formations. At the same time, while its outright numerical dominance in the Lok Sabha gives it a greater hold over the House of People, in the Rajya Sabha, it often has to contend with fierce opposition.

Experts believe that over the years ensuring the smooth functioning of the House has become challenging.

“For the last three decades, successive vice presidents have fought to preserve the Rajya Sabha's distinct nature. It is supposed to be a chamber of calm and dispassionate debate, a House that would act as a check on the popularly elected Lok Sabha. But disruptions of its proceedings and accusations that its scrutiny of legislation is obstructionist is risking the role that our Constitution envisaged for it,” said Chakshu Roy, head of legislative and civic engagement, PRS Legislative Research

This is the backdrop in which the BJP has opted for who many considered a surprising and unusual choice for the position.

“Since Dhankhar has a very good understanding of parliamentary affairs and constitutional matters and enjoys friendly ties with opposition parties, he was a natural choice to be the Vice President who is also the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. The party wanted a person who was well versed in all constitutional matters that are a prerequisite for the position,” a senior BJP functionary recently told HT. As he prepares to take over, Dhankar may well want to look back at the record and challenges of some of his predecessors.

Narayanan’s institutional breakthrough

In popular imagination, VPs may often be seen as politically marginal, but history reveals that each occupant of the position has left his own imprint on the position. They have, on occasion, bridged the partisan divide; they have, on other occasions, become embroiled in partisan divisions and battles.

In 1992, Vice President KR Narayanan condemned the demolition of Babri Masjid as chairman of the Rajya Sabha calling it the “greatest tragedy” since the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. SN Sahu, Narayanan’s close aide, recalled that

there was pandemonium in the House following the demolition of Babri Masjid and Narayanan as the Rajya Sabha Chairman drew the parallel with deep pain and anguish.

When Narayanan’s name was floated for the post of President of India, Sahu said that there were media reports that the BJP might not support him due to his statement on Babri Masjid demolition. “But he got the party’s support, as the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee said that he knew him well as Narayanan had worked as Secretary in the ministry of external affairs when Vajpayee was the minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Morarji Desai,” said Sahu.

Narayanan, of course, went on to become the President of India in 1997 with a 95% vote share, which is the third highest vote share in the presidential election — Rajendra Prasad holds the record for highest vote share (99%) followed by Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan (98.2%).

But to return to his Rajya Sabha role, it was due to Narayana’s intervention that a set of departmental-related parliamentary standing committees were allocated to the Rajya Sabha and chair of those Committees were appointed by the chair of Rajya Sabha, said Sahu.

This was not easy. The department-related committees, which started functioning from April 1993, superseded the three subject committees set up in 1989 by Speaker of ninth Lok Sabha Rabi Ray. As one of the mandates of those committees was to examine the budgets of departments of the Union government, there was an unwillingness on the part of some important functionaries to allot some of those Committees to the Rajya Sabha, which does not have powers to approve the budget.

However, when Narayanan asserted that Rajya Sabha should have a role, a joint meeting of the Rules Committees of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha was convened.

Sahu said that it was for the first time in the history of Parliament that such a meeting of Rules Committees of both the Houses of the apex legislature was convened and it took the historic decision to allocate some of the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committees to the Rajya Sabha. “In this sense, the role played by Narayanan as Chairman, Rajya Sabha, was historic,” Sahu said.

As per the Rajya Sabha website, while inaugurating the committee system in March 1993, Narayanan observed that the purpose of the committees is to “ensure the accountability of Government to Parliament through more detailed consideration of measures in these Committees. The intention is not to weaken or criticise the administration but to strengthen it by investing it with more meaningful Parliamentary support".

Shekhawat’s political outreach, legal approach

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who was the VP between 2002 and 2007, took many trendsetting decisions.

SN Sahu, who served in Rajya Sabha Secretariat, recalled that Shekhawat instructed the secretariat to publish advertisements seeking petitions from citizens in a bid to bridge the gap between the Parliament and the common people. “In doing so he wanted to take the Parliament closer to the people and make it their effective voice,” Sahu said.

He added that on occasions when Shekhawat faced repeated pressure from treasury and opposition benches to take a decision based on their pleadings, he would say that his decision would be such that it would stand the scrutiny of law.

“Such a statement coming from the Chairman of Rajya Sabha who presides over that law-making body spoke volumes for his adherence to the law while taking decisions. While presiding over the House, he once famously said that he would neither be dictated by the treasury benches nor come under the pressures of the opposition for conducting the proceedings of the House. His statement flagged his impartiality,” said Sahu.

Recalling Shekhawat’s tenure, former Rajya Sabha MP Brinda Karat, member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s politburo, said that he was “generous” in giving time to women MPs when they spoke in the House.

Sahu said that it was Shekhawat who took the initiative to get Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha secretariats to pay for the lodging and boarding expenses of MPs when they travel outside Delhi as part of the parliamentary committees to examine the implementation of the policies of the Government of India instead of government departments.

Ansari and the contentious years

Hamid Ansari became the VP in 2007. Ansari. A distinguished diplomat and scholar, the new Rajya Sabha chair didn’t have a political background. But he would go on to become only one of the two vice-presidents to serve two consecutive terms.

Those who worked with Ansari during those years recall that he was particular about rules.

Brinda Karat claimed that Ansari was a bit too strict in his understanding of the rules and didn’t give much leeway to anyone. “But his disciplinarian approach was much appreciated during the women’s reservation bill. He took an extremely firm stand and ensured that the house was in order. He went out of his way to ensure that the bill could be placed while there was a vociferous protest by a section of the house opposing it. He took a very firm stand in support of the bill…Any other person would have adjourned the House, but he showed the will of the chair by having those MPs removed,” said Karat.

But former Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Goel, who was a minister in the Modi government’s first term, said, “His view or stand or interpretation of the rules was sometimes different from that of the government, resulting in an embarrassing situation for the government,” said Goel.

One of the big debates in the House during Ansari’s tenure was around the Lokpal bill. Vivek Kumar Agnihotri, former secretary general of Rajya Sabha between 2007-2012, said that the discussion on Lokpal bill in 2011 went on till midnight. “But as there was no indication from the minister to continue the discussion, Ansari decided to adjourn the House after midnight,” said Agnihotri.

Naidu’s warmth, laced with controversies

When M Venkaiah Naidu became the chair of the Rajya Sabha, leaders across the political spectrum found a familiar face. Naidu had been the BJP president and a key minister in the Modi government. But he was also known for his warmth, excellent interpersonal skills, and witty one-liners. But with Indian politics deeply polarised and a rupture in trust between the government and the opposition, managing the Rajya Sabha proved to be a tough challenge for the veteran politician.

His tenure was marked by the passage of several important, and controversial, bills — such as Triple Talaq Bill, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and the J&K Reorganisation Bill.

PDT Achary, former Lok Sabha Secretary General, said that the farm bills and suspension of 12 opposition leaders were some of the controversial decisions taken during Naidu’s tenure. “The farm bills were passed by the Rajya Sabha in the din and proper voting through division was not done. It was passed by voice vote. Though the deputy chairman was presiding over the session then, the Chair could have asked him to adjourn the House and hold talks with the agitated members and Conduct voting according to the rules and the constitution,” said Achary.

He added, “As it happened, the Bills were passed by voice vote and the demand for the division was ignored. This is against the constitution and the Rules of the House. It was a procedural issue and the chair didn’t act according to the rules.”

BJP’s Goel disagrees. He said, “A bill is passed by voice vote only when it is clear that the government has the majority in the House.”

Achary said that another controversial decision was to suspend 12 opposition party MPs. “It was not in accordance with the rules of the house."

Goel, who was the parliamentary affairs minister between 2017 and 2019, said, “He (Naidu) is a very senior person and knows everything about the law and the rules. He was very particular about the rules and wanted the House to function properly and be in order. But it does not happen all the time.”

Chakshu Roy of PRS however credits Naidu for focusing on the functioning of Rajya Sabha committees so that they could strengthen the accountability of government to Parliament. “He proposed that MPs should have a longer tenure in committees and introduced simultaneous translation in multiple languages to make the proceedings more accessible to members.”

It is in this divided political landscape, where the Rajya Sabha has to perform both the role of the Council of Elders as well as the Council of States, provide distilled and wise guidance on legislation and reflect the voices of India’s diverse political and social interests, that Dhankar will step in on Saturday. Like his predecessors, India’s new Vice President will have his own challenges — and his own opportunity to shape the functioning of Indian democracy.