PARLIAMENT-The Mud that Did Stick

December 1, 1973 PARLIAMENT The Mud that Did Stick M R AS a parliamentary weapon, the no- confidence motion has become a blunt- edged weaponin the Lok Sabha, partly because of its indiscriminate use. Nehru did not face a no-confidence motion until after the onset of the strident anti-Congressism in 1963 following the NEFA military debacle. He did not have to face another. However, sineNehru died in 1964, there have been several more no-confidence motions in the Lok Sabha, Lai Bahadur Shastri faced more than one in his brief 18 months. Indira Gandhi had been Prime Minister for barely six months when the Opposition sought to censure her on the devaluation blunder.