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Political Dairy
Parliament Withering Away
Drowned in MPs Onslaught
By Poonam I Kaushish
New Delhi, September 20, 2007
We have been through all this before. Year after year. Of
how India’s Parliament is increasingly being devalued.
Virtually becoming a tamasha. Of crores of tax payers hard
earned money being swept aside by the verbal torrent of
puerile discourse that leads to walkouts, even near
fist-cuffs. Wherein the very protectors of this high temple of
democracy have become its denigrators and destroyers.
Of how in their “collective wisdom” our MPs have been spewing
sheer contempt on Parliament, wittingly or unwittingly.
Reducing it into an akhara, where politically motivated
bashing has become the order of the day and agenda a luxury to
be taken up when lung power is exhausted. Epitomising a
cesspool of every thing that has gone wrong with India today!
Testimony to this sharp decline was this year’s shortest ever
monsoon session of barely 17 days with the longest daily
adjournments and hardly any work, a mere 64 hours.
Shockingly, the session, originally scheduled from 10 August
till 14 September, was hurriedly cut short and adjourned sine
die four days earlier. No, not because of lack of agenda or
legislative business. But due to the proceedings being
disrupted in both House on a daily basis thanks to the
stand-off between the Opposition and the Treasury benches on
the Indo-Us nuclear deal. The former demanding a JPC on the
contentious subject and the latter adamantly declining.
With the result that Parliament further lost credibility and
prestige. Leading a much anguished Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath
Chatterjee to state in his concluding remarks: “It is
extremely disturbing that the highest public forum in the
country has come to a standstill which has raised questions
about the utility of our system of Parliamentary democracy and
about its future.” Raising a moot point: Is Parliament
becoming irrelevant?
That we are slowly but surely heading towards disaster is
obvious. What troubles one is the new dimension to this
age-old malaise. That it does not strike a chord among our
Right Honourables. Who largely continue to drift along smugly
without thinking of what they have done to Parliament. Of how
they have mauled it and continue to do so. Most distressing is
that there is no sense of outrage or shame.
The legislative business transacted during the session
illustrates how “powerless” Parliament has become in stemming
the mounting rot. Let’s start with the Question Hour, the
hyphen which links Parliament to Government and ensures
ministerial accountability. Distressingly out of the 380
starred questions listed, only 35 could be answered. Thus, on
an average, about 2.05 questions were answered per day. Why?
The MPs were too busy --- rushing into the well of the House,
raising slogans and preventing transaction of any business.
Mindlessly, ignoring the fact that the hour, treated as
sacrosanct in the House of Commons, belongs to the private
members and empowers them to push the Government and even it’s
Prime Minister into the dock. Any member can ask any question
within the framework of the rules. This, according to
constitutional experts, is what makes the Westminster model of
Parliamentary democracy superior to all other systems. The
crucial Question Hour consequently got “guillotined” time and
again, notwithstanding the midnight oil burnt by various
ministries preparing for the answers.
Not only that. Incredibly, four Bills were passed by the House
without any discussion whatsoever due to continuous
interruptions. No one cared that the bills failed to meet the
conventional parliamentary requirement of three readings. The
first reading is done when the Minister moves for the bill’s
consideration and explains its philosophy and its broad
parameters. Thereafter, the bill is closely thrashed out
clause by clause in the second reading. The third and final
reading is done when all the clauses and schedules, if any,
have been considered and voted by the House and the Minister
moves that the Bill be passed.
Veterans recall Nehru’s time when battles royal were fought
during the second reading even over the placement of a comma!
Surprised? Constitutionally and legally, the placing of a
comma could make all the difference to the meaning of a
clause. Lamented a Lok Sabha MP, “I worked long and hard
preparing for speaking on one of the scheduled bills. All my
effort is wasted. If one were to divide 64 hours by 17
sittings, only three-and-half days of concrete work have been
transacted.”
As matters stand, Parliament has already been reduced to a
farce. It has become an annual ritual to guillotine the
demands for grants of various ministries totaling thousands of
crores of rupees. What is more, the Treasury Benches are now
increasingly using its brute majority to rubber stamp various
policies trumpeted through ministerial fiats and ordinances.
Remember, Parliament’s greatest strength and utility lies in
its control over the Treasury. This has been systematically
eroded. Bringing things to such a pass that a party in power
today has no qualms in pushing ahead with populist
pronouncements at the drop of a hat. Even when that goes
against all Parliamentary norms.
Parliament’s all-round decline is today easily Delhi’s best
known secret. Everyone talks about it. Not a few lament over
it. Be it the quality of leadership, brand of MPs,
parliamentary standards and debating skills. Worse, everyone
also knows the raison de atre of this sorry state of affairs:
the all-pervasive corrupt-criminal nexus and the
all-enveloping caste-creed and vote-bank paradigm. Nothing
more, nothing less. Yet all willy nilly abet it
Ironically, even as Parliament withered, it was a win-win
session for our MPs. Who earned hefty salaries, perks and
innumerable freebies including free lunches in the historic
Central Hall, India’s most exclusive club, for shouting and
playing truant. Normally, they should have been held
accountable for their actions, as during the Nehru era. But no
one seems to care anymore beyond shedding crocodile tears and
indulging in boring rhetoric, as witnessed once more when the
President presented Best Parliamentary awards on Wednesday to
Sharad Pawar, Sushma Swaraj, P Chidambaram and Mani Shankar
Aiyar.
Parliamentary democracy can succeed only when the rules of the
game are followed honestly. Constitutional and other steps
therefore, need to be taken soonest to restore to our
Parliament its functional glory as originally conceived.
Bemoaned a senior CPI leader, “Parliament is being reduced to
nothing. MPs are not doing their work but prefer to take
allowances… the largest democracy is not functioning. This
must be set right!”
The monsoon session has sharply posed a bigger question mark
than ever before over the future of India’s parliamentary
democracy. The issue is not just of our Right Honourables’
making ones presence felt by muscle-flexing in the House of
the People and in the Council of States or even intolerance of
another’s point of view. It is about upholding the highest
standards of morality, credibility and dignity of Parliament.
The MPs are servants of the people, not their masters.
If Parliament is to function and regain its lost lustre among
the people, the Government and the Opposition have to bury the
hatchet of distrust. The Treasury and the Opposition benches
are two sides of the democratic coin and must ensure orderly
debate, discussion and functioning. Remember, Parliamentary
democracy succeeds only when the rules of the game are
followed honestly. Basically, the Opposition must have its
say, even as the Government has its way. Else, it will lose
its credibility and prestige. Worse, become redundant and
irrelevant.
Clearly, it is time to give serious thought to rectifying the
flaws in our system and urgently overhauling. If necessary,
rules should be drastically changed to put Parliament back on
the rails. Indira Gandhi once wisely said: “Parliament is a
bulwark of democracy…. It has also a very heavy task of
keeping an image that will gain it the faith and respect of
the people. Because, if that is lost, then I don’t know what
could happen later.” Time to heed her words and stop the drift
towards disaster.
(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)
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