Political Diary

New Delhi, 28 February 2009

Death Of Fourteenth Lok Sabha

MPs REVEL IN DARKEST CHAPTER

By Poonam I Kaushish

The end was ignominiously quite, without a bang. Bereft of the acrimony, pandemonium and fist-cuffs which had crippled its life for the last five years. No guesses, one is talking of the 14^th Lok Sabha. Which will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Marked by a verbal torrent of puerile discourse, all kinds of chicanery, denigration and trivialization shamelessly exposing the ugly and raw underbelly of power politics down to the gutter level. Where our jan sevaks relegated the House of the People into a slum and emerged as Slumdog Millionaires! No matter that asli Bharat’s aam aadmi continues reeling under crippling poverty.

An epitaph of the Fourteenth Lok Sabha would read as the darkest chapter in India’s high temple of democracy. In fact, it had many firsts. The Prime Minister was not the Leader of the House. Five tainted Ministers adorned the Treasury benches, shrugged off as “compulsions of coalition politics.” The Speaker was expelled by his Party. Innumerable scams rocked each session every year. With our Right Honourables busy leading an in-House humla more destructive than the terror strikes from across the border.

Creating history of sorts, the Prime Minister belonged to the Rajya Sabha instead of being directly elected by the people to the Lok Sabha. Leaving the Government with no recourse but to elect the senior-most Minister as the Leader of the House. A post which in normal course was the PM’s by virtue of his numero uno status. Sadly, Manmohan Singh should have done an Indira Gandhi. On being made elected the PM she resigned from the  Rajya Sabha and got elected to the Lok Sabha as she felt that the Prime Minister should represent the will of the people which was reflected in the House of the People.

Leading to another unprecedented situation. When the Left parties moved a privilege motion against the PM in the Lok Sabha for his failure to report to the House before operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal as promised by him, the Speaker rejected the motion by stating that the privilege issue could be raised only in the Rajya Sabha as the PM was a member there.

Unforgettable too is that controversy dodged the Speaker’s office which was marked by extreme bitterness vis-à-vis Somnath Chatterjee’s ties with his Party last year and with the main Opposition Party, BJP. While the CPM expelled Somnath for defying its diktat and resign as Speaker on the confidence motion moved by PM on the Indo-US nuclear deal. The BJP accused Somnath of ‘partisanship’ and boycotted him for a day. Briefly, it even seriously contemplated moving a no confidence motion against him.

Worse, the five years were marked by increased confrontation between the Treasury and the Opposition benches. There was no day when the Lok Sabha did not witness a tug-of-war on anything and everything. The House was repeatedly adjourned. Be it for a few hours if not the entire day due to MPs displaying their might by rushing into the well of the House, hustling and muscling the Speaker et al.

Not only that. Crucial legislations were rushed through in the House. Who can forget the last session where 18 important bills were passed in a short span of 15 minutes without any consideration. Importantly, on the last day of the 14^th Lok Sabha as many as 34 Bills lapsed with the fate of another 46 now resting with the next Government.

Sadly, this high volume of unfinished legislative agenda tells the story of a fractured House, the inability of the Government to engage the Opposition and its ineptitude in building a consensus. There was total lack of communication and coordination between the two sides which seemed to have become the hallmark of the 14th Lok Sabha.  Instead of reaching out, the Government sought ways to ram through legislations. And when there was consensus, it wasn’t built upon.

The Government suffered reverses on the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2008. It rushed the Bill through the Lok Sabha, but was unable to get it passed in the Rajya Sabha. Also, it was forced to withdraw the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation in Posts and Services) Bill, 2008 (passed by the Rajya Sabha in December last) as sections within the UPA opposed it.

More. The five years of the Lok Sabha functioning often underscored the fragility of the UPA Government. In 2005, the Government talked of amending the Forward Contract Regulation Act but introduced the Bill only in March 2008 in the Lok Sabha. Only to abandon it later thanks to the Left’s strong opposition and sky rocketing inflation.

But what should worry each Party was the marked decrease in the numbers of days on which the two House of Parliament met. Scandalously, the House hit an all-time low when the Lok Sabha functioned only for 32 days. Notwithstanding the political consensus that Parliament should meet for a minimum of 100 days in a year.  In 2007 it had fared better when it met for 66 days. But all washed away by the shortest ever monsoon session of barely 17 days with the longest daily adjournments and hardly any work, a mere 64 hours.

Testimony of this continuing sharp decline was when the monsoon session in July-August 2008 was an on-going session till December. When asked why the monsoon session was not adjourned and what the December session should be called, the Parliamentary Minister replied: “Say anything you like”. Typical, the Government and Opposition accused each other for “killing” Parliament.

Most distressing was that our politico-criminals shamelessly flashed their “bullet-proof” MP status. Indeed, the various scams ---- cash-for-questions hustling, cash-for-vote scandal and the Office of Profit swindle proved that money hai to power hai. Brushed aside as perks of office. Never mind that at the end of the day the temple of democracy was trampled and trashed. What mattered was victory at all cost. Certainly, the aam aadmi had not voted for this.

This apart, despite the hype surrounding Parliament’s babalog, the ‘Gen Next’ failed to make an impact. According to Parliamentary Research Service statistics their performance in terms of attendance and participation in the proceedings were abysmal. Though they accounted for 11% of the Lok Sabha seats their participation in the proceedings was only around 7%.  On an average, each baba participated in 3, while a 56-70 years MP partook in 5 debates . So much for inducting fresh faces!

One can go on about the death of Parliamentary democracy represented in the Lok Sabha. That we are slowly heading towards disaster is obvious. What troubles one is that it does not strike a chord among our MPs. Who largely continue to drift along smugly without thinking of how they have mauled the House and continue to do so. Most distressing is that there is no sense of outrage or shame. Even as the peoples’ disillusionment and revulsion with our jan sevaks grows.

Not many seem to understand the diabolical and dangerous dimensions of making the Lok Sabha insignificant. It needs to be remembered that it represents the people of India, who count upon it to function as the sovereign watchdog of their interest. Constitutionally, the Executive is responsible and accountable to Parliament every second of the day. Its survival depends on its enjoying the confidence of the Lok Sabha.

As our political parties continue in their jor-tor of regaining power in the coming elections, all eyes are on the 15th Lok Sabha. What will its contours be? What calibre of MPs? Clearly, the time has come to seriously rectify the flaws in our system and urgently overhaul the functioning of Parliament. If necessary, rules should be drastically changed to put it back on the rails. Else, we could lose everything that took over 60 years to build. Or else say goodbye to democracy! ---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)