Winter Session: All-party meet today; SIR issue set to rock proceedings

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament, the government has convened an all-party meeting on Sunday. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju will meet the floor leaders of political parties of both the Houses of Parliament. The government, during the meeting, will seek the cooperation from all the parties to ensure the smooth functioning of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha during the session which begins from Monday and will continue till December 19. During the session several important legislations are scheduled to be taken up for discussion and passage.

Kiren Rijiju told the media here on Sunday that the government will listen to the views of all the parties. The all party meeting will be held at 11 am and the government would share the list of Bills to be discussed during the session with the Leader of Opposition. The meeting will be followed by the Business Advisory Council meetings of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha at 4 pm.

The government is likely to go for a full-day discussion on ‘Vande Mataram’ as the nation marks 150 years of the national song. The issue gained prominence after Prime Minister Narendra Modi commented about the removal of “significant verses” in 1937.

“The removal affected the very essence of its spirit. Stanzas of the song were broken up. This removal sowed the seeds for the eventual Partition of the country. Today’s generation needs to understand why such injustice was committed against this great mantra of nation-building, because that same divisive mindset continues to pose a major challenge even today,” PM Modi had said earlier this month.

The government is also planning to introduce 10 key Bills during the session, including those related to nuclear energy, higher education, corporate law, and the securities market.

A meeting of the Floor Leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc will also be held at 10 am on Monday in the office of Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress (TMC) are expected to vociferously raise the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls during the session and the controversial issue is likely to figure prominently during the winter session, particularly the deaths allegedly linked to SIR exercise in West Bengal, according to senior TMC leader Derek O’Brien.

The TMC which rules West Bengal where assembly elections are due in mid-2026 has accused the Election Commission of imposing “SIR-linked inhuman pressure” on ground staff through compressed timelines and “unworkable deadlines.” O’Brien claimed the SIR exercise has caused fear, fatigue, and fatalities among Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and citizens.