Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday announced that the winter session of Parliament would be held from December 1 to 19, drawing criticism from the Opposition for its unusually short duration.
"The Hon’ble President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu ji has approved the proposal of the government to convene the #WinterSession of #Parliament from 1st December 2025 to 19th December 2025 (subject to exigencies of Parliamentary business),” Rijiju announced in a post on X.
“Looking forward to a constructive & meaningful session that strengthens our democracy & serves the aspirations of the people,” he added.
Opposition leaders flayed the move, accusing the government of undermining Parliament.
“This is unusually delayed and truncated. It will be just 15 working days. What is the message being conveyed?” Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh wrote on X.
“Clearly the government has no business to transact, no Bills to get passed, and no debates to be allowed.”
Usually, the winter session starts in the second half of November and ends just before Christmas. The government has not given any reason for the shorter schedule this year.
Congress MP Manish Tiwari asked whether the brevity of the session reflected a lack of legislative agenda or a deliberate attempt to weaken parliamentary processes.
“Is it because the government has no legislative agenda, or is this a continued emasculation of Parliament. That is why we are becoming a two-horse republic — Executive and Judiciary. This does not augur well for democracy,” Tiwari said on X.
Derek O’Brien, Trinamool's parliamentary party leader in the Rajya Sabha, said the government had a phobia of facing Parliament. “PM @narendramodi and team continue to suffer from the acute condition called Parliament-ophobia, a morbid fear of facing Parliament,” he said on X.
The Opposition indicated that the special intensive revision of electoral rolls was likely to dominate the session. The monsoon session was stalled for several days over the Opposition’s demands for a discussion on the issue, which the government refused.
“A major issue will be the SIR issue. The Prime Minister’s silence on Trump’s statements is also a major issue,” Ramesh said.