Quite misleading: Pralhad Joshi, Jairam Ramesh lock horns over House procedure, constitutional provisions

Union minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday accused senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh of twisting facts about constitutional provisions and parliamentary procedures related to Parliament sessions.

It is crucial to stop the spread of misinformation that scandalises Parliament and its procedures, the parliamentary affairs minister said in a rejoinder to Ramesh who had accused him of being 'misleading' in his reply to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's letter to the prime minister.

The Congress has been targeting the government for not disclosing the agenda of the five-day special session starting from September 18.

Ramesh had claimed the agenda of every special session in the past was well known in advance and alleged that it was only the Modi government that 'distorts' parliamentary conventions.

Seeking to set the record straight, Joshi accused him of 'falsely claiming' that the historic function in Parliament's Central Hall on June 30, 2017 for the GST roll out, was a Parliament session.

"That's just not true! It wasn't a session under Article 85 of the Constitution," he said on X.

"Now, let's address another misrepresentation. Ramesh mentioned a “Special Sitting in Central Hall on 26 November, 2019” for Constitution's 70th anniversary. But, once again, it wasn't a parliamentary session under Article 85 of the Constitution," Joshi said.

A session of Parliament under Article 85 of the Constitution is precisely that, and the agenda will be shared in accordance with established parliamentary practices, he said.

The Article 85 deals with session and states that the 'President will from time to time summon each House of Parliament to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session.'

Joshi said it is important to differentiate between celebratory functions and formal parliamentary sessions. Accurate information matters in maintaining the integrity of our democratic processes, he added.

While taking a jibe at Ramesh, a Rajya Sabha MP and Congress general secretary, Joshi used a quote that 'a compulsive contrarian maybe a master of doubt, but they often miss the beauty of certainty founded in truth'.

He said, "Jairam Ramesh's recent statements have been quite misleading. He's twisting facts about constitutional provisions and parliamentary procedures."

The summoning of Parliament, the minister said, is the greatest boon in a democracy. However, there is a lobby of compulsive contrarians who oppose the same, he added in a swipe at opposition parties. 

He told Ramesh to focus on accurate information and not let misleading statements cloud our understanding of constitutional provisions and parliamentary procedures.

Joshi then raked up the Emergency promulgated by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi and said it was a Congress government which was known for subversion and distortion of parliamentary democracy.

People of the world's largest democracy have seen the imposition of Emergency and how the rights of the people of this country and institutions were curbed by his party's government in 1975, he told Ramesh.

"Your government's strike rate is spectacular in dismissing democratically elected state governments more than 90 times misusing Art 356," he added.

Ramesh's attack on Joshi came after the latter accused Sonia Gandhi of trying to politicise the functioning of Parliament and create unnecessary controversy, in response to her letter to Prime Minister Modi.

 Gandhi wrote to Modi to point out among other issues that no agenda was listed for the upcoming special session of Parliament. 

Joshi then asserted that the agenda of the session will be circulated 'at the appropriate time as per the usual practice established'.