DIVIDED HOUSES, POLITICS LIKELY TO CONTINUE IN 2026

AS Parliament heads into 2026, expectations of a calmer, more deliberative legislative year remain muted.

- RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi

The experience of 2025, marked by frequent disruptions, sharp political polarisation and limited consensus between the ruling dispensation and the Opposition, offers few signals of an immediate course correction. If recent trends persist, parliamentary functioning in 2026 is likely to remain caught between essential debate and entrenched acrimony.

Throughout 2025, both Houses witnessed repeated adjournments as confrontations between the treasury benches and the Opposition, led mostly by the principal opposition Congress dominated proceedings. rom the Budget session to the Monsoon and Winter sessions, disruptions consistently outweighed substantive legislative discussion. While the government succeeded in pushing through key legislations by virtue of its numerical strength and coordination with NDA allies, the Opposition relied on protests, walkouts and procedural resistance to flag its dissent.

Several contentious issues drove the confrontations. The SIR (Special Intensive Revisions), first rolled out in Bihar and later extended to West Bengal and other states, triggered sustained protests. The Waqf Bill, amendments to welfare-related schemes such as MGNREGA, now rebranded as VB-G-RAM-G, and debates on internal security and the prolonged crisis in Manipur consumed significant parliamentary time. Even when Bills were passed, they often did so amid disorder, leaving little room for detailed scrutiny.