After reading the writing on the wall, Narendra Modi has abandoned the plans to get the 2013 Land Acquisition Law amended due to stubborn opposition from the Congress-led Opposition over nine months.
He was also hobbled by the lukewarm attitude of his own party MPs as the far reaching amendments approved by the cabinet in the first flush of the 2014 victory was perceived to be pro industry.
Even Rural Development Minister Birender Singh was not keen to carry the amendments with enthusiasm, as these were proposed by Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari when he was in charge of rural development, after the death of Gopinath Munde, the first minister of rural development in Modi government.
Modi was determined that he should outfox the Opposition and that is why he resorted to the ordinance route in last December when he found the Rajya Sabha was not receptive to the amendments.
Modi had thought that his government's iron will and determination could be demonstrated by asking President Pranab Mukherjee to sign an ordinance bringing into force the amendments temporarily.
But the continued resistance from Congress in the Parliament made Modi request Mukherjee to reissue the ordinance twice; but on the ground, no state government was implementing the amendments. The political enthusiasm faded soon after the amendment was first issued on the last day of 2014 as the BJP came a cropper in the Delhi Assembly elections.
The Prime Minister has learnt several lessons during the continued jousting over the land acquisition amendment and other important legislation he wanted to bring, all of which were blocked out during the washed out monsoon session.
He had told groups of journalists who had met him ahead of the government completing one year in office that he would wait patiently for NDA to get its majority in Rajya Sabha, which would not be possible for another four years. He had hoped he would get the Bills passed in a joint session of Parliament but he has not been able to get the Rajya Sabha even to defeat the laws. Only then can a joint session can be summoned by the president on the advice of the cabinet.
Modi had also said he would go on his agenda by using the executive order. He recalled how Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao had unleashed economic reforms through a series of executive orders in 1991.
Compared to the flurry of executive orders passed by Rao and his finance minister Manmohan Singh in the first year, Modi has passed far lesser number of such executive orders to implement his vision.
But now, he has told his key ministers handling portfolios such as finance, law, commerce, industry, infrastructure to come out with executive orders, which can avoid the need for getting laws amended or new laws passed in parliament.
He has also asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu to work out on the process of consensus building in parliamentary standing committees, which can be expedited on the government's own agenda.
On the other hand, the Congress, which is celebrating its success in forcing the government to make a U-turn on the Land Acquisition Bill, has told its members in standing committees that they should ensure that the Congress agenda is worked into the draft laws finalised in the committee.
The Congress would also not be obliged to allow easy passage of government business in Rajya Sabha. The coming months would see the rivalry escalating with both sides trying to outwit the other.
Tailpiece: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's eagerness to shift major defence shows, including the Defence Technology Exhibition held regularly in Delhi and the aero show held in Bengaluru, to his home state has led to protests from his own party MPs representing Delhi and Bengaluru. Parrikar has assured them that he is taking a holistic decision.
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