FDI voting in Parliament

Thanks to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), which together account for 43 of 545 Lok Sabha members (which includes two nominated members not eligible to vote), the UPA succeeded in defeating the Opposition motion against FDI in the multi-trade retail sector. At the conclusion of a tumultuous acrimonious two-day debate, the motion was rejected with 253 members voting against and 218 members in favour. Twenty-two members of the BSP and 21 members of the SP, whose party representatives vehemently opposed the FDI in the course of the debate, staged a walkout before the motion was put to vote.

 Minutes after the motion was negated, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters that his government has the “support” of the House on the decision to open up multi-brand retail trade to foreign investors. However, several Opposition leaders, including Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and D. Raja of the CPI, asserted that it was a “moral” defeat for the government as it could not demonstrate a simple majority of the effective strength of the people’s House. The bail-out of the government by the SP and BSP was along expected lines and their members walked out before the voting.

The House also rejected the motion seeking an amendment to the rules notified by the Reserve Bank under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to facilitate FDI in multi-brand retail. While 254 voted in favour of the government, 224 went against it. The government’s victory on the contentious issue of FDI was hailed by both the Prime Minister and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Dr. Singh said that, FDI policy that we have put in place has the approval of this House [the Lok Sabha].

The voting was preceded by passionate and emotional appeals by the mover of the motion Ms. Swaraj and TMC MP Saugata Roy to the treasury benches not to be guided by partisan considerations and to pressure the government to defer the decision. The crux of Ms. Swaraj’s appeal was that, going by the strength of the members of the parties who spoke against the motion, the majority of the House was completely opposed to FDI in multi-brand retail. She said that if speeches during the debate gave any indication and the parties too voted accordingly on the motion, the tally would be 282 against FDI and only 224 in its support.

In Rajya Sabha:-

The ordeal is over for the United Progressive Alliance government which won the vote on the policy on FDI in multi-brand retail sector in the Rajya Sabha with generous help yet again from the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party. Just before the Opposition motion was put to vote, the SP walked out, reducing the effective strength of the House by nine members. The BSP’s 15 MPs voted against the motion that “disapproved’’ of the government’s decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail sector. The BSP said it backed the UPA to thwart Opposition attempts to demand the resignation of the Manmohan government on the ground that it did not enjoy a majority.

Subject to confirmation, the Opposition motion was defeated, with 102 members voting in favour and 123 against it. Voting was done twice as in the first exercise some aberrations crept in the machines. Clearly it was Mayawati’s BSP which made all the difference. Had the BSP not voted against the motion, the Opposition would have managed to come pretty close to the half-way mark. Those who voted against the motion included nine nominated members and six independents.

Among the voters was actress Rekha in one of her rare appearances. Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, Congress member Murli Deora, BJD member Pyarimohan Mohapatra and B.N. Singh of the JD(U) were not present. Two ailing members in wheelchair were allowed to vote in the lobby.

AIADMK leader V. Maitreyan in his reply to a staunch defence of the policy by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said that, if the UPA wins this vote, it will be the victory of the UPA’s manoeuvrability, not of the FDI policy which has been opposed by a majority of parties in the House. He also said that the people will reply in the 2014 polls and I give a solemn assurance that the next government that comes to power will reverse this decision of the UPA. Dr. Manmohan Singh, who is the Leader of the House, was present throughout the debate. Earlier, D. Raja of the CPI said the “sense of the House” was against the policy and the government should respect that.