Description – Parliament’s Winter Session began with uproar as opposition protested the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists, alleging vote deletion and suspicious BLO deaths. Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha adjourned early amid chaos. Despite the din, FM Nirmala Sitharaman tabled three bills: Manipur GST amendment (passed), higher excise on tobacco, and a new cess on pan masala to replace the expiring GST compensation. Rajya Sabha welcomed new Chairman CP Radhakrishnan but saw a walkout over SIR. Session continues till Dec 19 with a packed agenda.
New Delhi, December 1, 2025 – The Winter Session of Parliament stumbled out of the gate today, with both houses calling it quits by early afternoon after opposition fury over the government’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls turned the chambers into shouting matches. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, undeterred by the bedlam, tabled three bills in the Lok Sabha – one syncing Manipur’s GST rules with national tweaks, another jacking up excise on tobacco, and a third slapping a fresh cess on pan masala production to bankroll health and defense needs. The moves, aimed at steadying revenues as the GST compensation era fades, barely got a whisper amid the chaos, but they signal a tough fiscal pivot ahead.
Kicking off at 11 a.m. sharp, the sixth session of the 18th Lok Sabha and 269th of the Rajya Sabha brimmed with promise – or so Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoped. In a pre-session media huddle, he laid down the law: “This isn’t a theater for drama; it’s where first-timers from every party get to shine on real issues like growth and governance.” Modi, fresh from BJP’s state poll sweeps, touted India’s economic grit amid global jitters and plugged for a Constitution sesquicentennial debate. But the goodwill evaporated faster than morning fog. INDIA bloc MPs – Congress, TMC, SP, AAP, and DMK – surged into the Lok Sabha’s Well, banners aloft, bellowing “SIR ko rok do!” They slammed the nationwide voter purge as a BJP bid to erase opposition voters, spotlighting over 50 million deletions and seven BLO deaths in recent weeks, which they branded suspicious.
Speaker Om Birla, face etched with frustration, banged the gavel after 15 minutes and adjourned till noon. Resuming only amplified the roar. Yet in that sliver of order, Sitharaman struck. She first moved the Manipur Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2025, which zipped through after a rushed chat. Replacing an October ordinance under President’s Rule – in place since February amid Manipur’s ethnic strife – it meshes the state’s 2017 GST Act with Finance Act 2025 changes from the 56th GST Council. Think streamlined slabs: merging overlaps into 5% and 18% rates, plus a 40% hit on luxury stuff, all to cut evasion, hike collections, and ease business in the northeast. “Manipur can’t lag in our unified tax story,” Sitharaman told the sparse benches, her voice cutting through stray jeers.
No breather followed. She rolled out the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025, tweaking the 1944 Act to revive excise on tobacco as the GST cess sunsets by March 2026. Currently, smokes and chews face 28% GST plus cess; this swaps the cess for direct excise hikes – 60-100% ad valorem on cigars, cheroots, bidis, hookahs, zarda, and nicotine gadgets, with specifics like Rs 5,000-11,000 per 1,000 cigarette sticks based on length and filters. The goal? Keep the “sin tax” bite firm to deter use – India loses 1.4 million lives yearly to tobacco, WHO warns – while recouping Rs 20,000 crore in lost revenue. “We’re shielding health and coffers, not sneaking hikes,” Sitharaman later clarified to reporters, as opposition whispers of “addiction profiteering” lingered.
Capping the trio: the Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025, a novel levy on pan masala and gutkha making – think Rs 100 monthly per machine churning 500 pouches a minute, based on capacity, not output. It targets areca nuts, lime tubes, and blending processes, funneling funds straight to anti-cancer drives and border beef-ups. Manufacturers must self-report setups, face audits, and pay by the 7th – evasion baiters like surprise raids included. Estimates peg it at Rs 15,000 crore yearly, replacing the pan masala cess without easing the load. TMC’s Saugata Roy, grabbing a mic in the fray, blasted it as “state-snubbing sleight-of-hand,” since cess bucks skip shares. “Tax the poison, sure – but ban it if you’re serious,” he fired, as the house dissolved into fresh chants.
By 2 p.m., Birla waved the white flag, adjourning the Lok Sabha for the day – the third time after fruitless pleas. Over in Rajya Sabha, new Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan savored a softer landing in his debut. Congratulated by Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge – who quipped about Tamil Nadu’s “reason over rhetoric” touch – Radhakrishnan hailed India’s women’s sports triumphs: cricket World Cup, kabaddi gold, Deaflympics hauls. But the idyll shattered when AAP’s Sanjay Singh tabled a suspension motion on SIR, demanding a JPC probe into BLO tragedies and “democracy’s sabotage.” Kharge piled on: “Eleven years of BJP trampling norms – now this voter heist?” Union Minister Kiren Rijiju parried, decrying “Chair insults” and vowing SIR talks “soonish,” sans dates.
After tabling Rs 48,000 crore in supplementary grants – defense and infra heavy – the upper house folded by 3 p.m. on a walkout. Radhakrishnan’s opener: “Cross the Laxman Rekha of disruption for dialogue.” Fat chance, with tomorrow’s 10-hour economic showdown looming, Modi set to chime in.
This 19-day sprint packs 13 bills: atomic energy privatization, highway boosts, insurance FDI to 100%, higher ed revamps, Waqf tweaks. Supplementary demands top Rs 2.5 lakh crore. Outside, Delhi’s AQI clawed 450, prompting Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s X plea: “Smog’s strangling our kids – transcend the tantrums.” Akhilesh Yadav zinged Modi’s “drama-free” call: “Deaths aren’t skits; your cops are the real showstoppers.” BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad shrugged it off as “election gripes,” eyeing 2026 state scraps.
Veterans like Birla, post all-party huddle, echoed the PM: “Dialogue drives democracy.” Day one’s din begs to differ – but with fiscal fires burning, the real fireworks await. Can they hash or just hash it out? The republic holds its breath.
Sources:
- The Hindu – Live updates: Both Houses adjourned amid SIR protests
- Business Standard – LS passes Manipur GST bill, adjourns early
- Hindustan Times – PM Modi media address, opposition raises Delhi AQI & SIR
- Deccan Herald – Full session live: Key bills, SIR chaos, Vande Mataram row
- ETV Bharat – New RS Chairman CP Radhakrishnan welcomed, LS adjourned twice
- Financial Express – Delhi blast mention, SIR uproar, tobacco-pan masala cess debate
- India TV – Houses adjourned over opposition uproar on SIR
India Today – Opposition walkout in Rajya Sabha on SIR issue
