Editor's Pick: A stormy Parliament session ahead

(The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.)

Eighteen opposition parties have announced that they will boycott the President's address inaugurating the Budget session of Parliament beginning today. The boycott is over the government stance on the farmers' protest over the three farm laws passed in the last session of Parliament. While 16 parties, led by the Congress, have put up a united front, the Siromani Akali Dal and the AAP separately announced their intention to boycott the speech.

The unity of the opposition is unprecedented in recent times, as the cause of the farmer is a common ground for all — even the ones that are rivals in upcoming Assembly elections. While the farmers may have given up their planned march to Parliament on February 1 — Budget Day — in the wake of the violence on Republic Day, their presence at Delhi's borders will certainly spur opposition protests in the Upper and Lower Houses. There will be pressure on the Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairperson to bring up for discussion the three farm laws that are the bone of contention between the farmer unions and the Centre. While the BJP government has agreed in its negotiations to certain amendments to the laws, the opposition parties may clamour for the full repeal of the laws as the unions are demanding, or for legal backing for MSP as the base price in all agricultural product trade.

The Budget session, which will extend from today till April 8, has another major issue to grapple with — the economy. The provisions made in the Budget for the sectors hit by the pandemic will also be under close scrutiny. The opposition is sure to bring up issues of unemployment and low growth. Two other contentious Bills are also set to come up during this session — the DNA Technology Regulation Bill and the Data Privacy Bill. The allegation that the provisions of the DNA Bill could lead to community-based profiling, and concerns over the Data Privacy Bill giving the government backdoor access to citizens' online data, could give these legislations a rough ride in Parliament.

Today's boycott of the President's speech lays the ground for a tumultuous Budget session, which has ample fodder to sustain the opposition over its course. This is what makes the story important.

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