Political Diary
New Delhi, 28 August 2010
Consensual Politics
A NEW BEGINNING FOR
PARLIAMENT?
By Poonam I Kaushish
All’s well
that ends well! Who would have thought that the Monsoon session of Parliament
which began on a bitter note last month would end today (31 August) in new-found
syrupy hum-saath-saath-hain between the
Congress and the Opposition. Raising a moot point: Are happy Parliamentary days
back after years of acrimony? Is the new camaraderie a forerunner to the
maturing of our jan sevaks and
Parliament turning a new leaf? Is the polity taking baby steps to being perceived
as a more responsive leadership? Will the new bond sustain? Or is the
solidarity a charade to feather their nests? All this and more.
Importantly,
this session underscored the best and the crassest worst of our MPs. Frankly
even before it begun many had written of the session as bad news. For starters,
in an unprecedented move the BJP boycotted the Prime Minister’s pre-session
lunch for Opposition leaders on the facetious plea that the Government had “misused”
the CBI and arrested Gujarat’s Home Minister Amit
Shah in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. Asserted Lok Sabha Leader of
Opposition Sushma Swaraj: “How can we break bread with a Government which is
conducting a witch-hunt against our Ministers in the State.”
However, by
Thursday last Parliament metamorphosed into a Government-Opposition engagement
rarely seen in recent times. After years of innumerable ugly and acrimonious skirmishes
we saw an “arrogant” Government bend over backwards to accommodate the
viewpoint of arch rivals BJP and Left on the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill. With
speakers across the political divide acknowledging the others contribution to
ensure safe passage of the Bill. A grateful Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went
a step further and called up Sushma Swaraj to personally thank her for her cooperation.
In fact,
this is not the lone example of the new bhaichara.
Many senior Ministers are now regularly in touch with key Opposition
leaders to accommodate their viewpoint on crucial legislations. GST Bill, Education
Bill etc. Leading to rubbing of eyes in wonderment. What brought about the
change? New thinking? Innovative strategy? Petty politricking to serve
self-interest?
True, the
cynics undoubtedly see a game plan. Most perceive the Government’s new
wooing-cooing of the Opposition as hardcore strategy to get crucial
legislations passed, specially in the Rajya Sabha where it lacks the critical
numbers. Working on the premise that all is fair in love and war. After all,
politics is the art of making possible the impossible.
Not a few
snigger that the Congress-BJP had struck a quid-pro-quo deal. We pass the Bill
and you keep Gujarat’s Chief Minister Narendra
Modi out of the investigations into the Sohrabuddin case. Akin to a similar deal
the Government cut with the SP and BSP supremos Mulayam and Mayawati last month
over a united Opposition-sponsored onslaught of cut-motions on the Finance Bill
in the Lok Sabha. Facing defeat with a bare three-MP majority the Government
hurriedly got the CBI to agree to “reconsider” the DA case pending against both
Mayawati and Mulayam.
The
optimists differ. Many put the ice-breaker as a result of a generational change
in the leadership of the parties. All working on the premise that the time has
come to let bygones be bygones, turn a new leaf and look at the future.
Undoubtedly, there is a visible shift in thinking, strategy and negotiating
skills of the jan sevaks who realize
that if India
has to join the super-power league they have to work in tandem.
This new
thinking is perceptible in the way the Congress’s Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal,
Jairam Ramesh, BJP’s Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, CPM’s Sitaram Yechury, CPI
Gurudas Dasgupta and D Raja, NCP’s Praful Patel, DMK’s Dayanidhi Maran et al
conduct themselves, interact and are at ease with each other. Asserted a MP:
“The world-over leadership has shifted to the 40’s-50’s generation, US
President Obama is 47, British Premier David Cameron 43, Congo President Joseph
Kabila 38, Germany’s Green Party Chief Cem Ozdemir, Ukraine’s Yulia Tymoshenko et al are all in
their fifties.”
This
refreshing new give-and-take was visible when all collectively put their heads
together to break the week-long impasse over the Opposition-sponsored
adjournment motion which entailed voting on the price rise issue which would
have embarrassed the Treasury Benches.
True, the
Government would not have fallen if the vote went against it, but it would have
exposed the fissures within the UPA. Already demanding allies like the Trinamool,
DMK and NCP viewed this as an opportunity to extract their pound of flesh.
Ditto with “outside” supporters RJD, SP and BSP. Finally, after much haggling
the ‘young’ brigade amicably settled for the Speaker’s resolution on the issue.
But even as
this new generational change in our polity is welcome, India’s
Parliament tragically continues to be in the moribund grip of a miniscule 4% mohalla mentality leaders, who continue
to besmirch and tarnish Parliament. Most shocking was when senior regional
leaders led by Lalu and Mulayam held a “mock” Lok Sabha last week.
Call it
shades of black humour or what you may, the unprecedented happening exposed the
worst of Parliamentary etiquette since India’s independence. Never had one
witnessed that an ordinary MP would don the sacrosanct Speaker’s chair. Given
that after elections a new Speaker is escorted to his chair by the PM and the
Leader of the Opposition. Tragically, our legislators suffered no sense of
guilt or qualms of conscience.
Equally
scandalous was their “fake” concerns over issues that affect the aam aadmi. Take the debate on price rise. Most
scandalously, when the Leader of Opposition initiated discussions in the Lok
Sabha, the PM, Leader of House (Finance Minister), Petroleum and even the
Agriculture Ministers were all absent. Adding insult to injury, less than
50-odd MPs were present. Repeated ringing of the quorum bell failed to get our jan sevaks give up their gupshup in the Central Hall.
Earlier
too, during a discussion on the same issue in the last winter session only 26
of the 545 MPs were present in the Lok Sabha. By the time Agriculture Minister Sharad
Pawar finished replying five more Members had left. The house thus conducted an
important debate without even the mandatory quorum --- at least 10% of its
total strength. Let “mehangai daayan
khaye jaat hai” the common man. Who cares!
And on the
day when the farmers gheroed Delhi
demanding a rethink on the Land Acquisition Act and a day after the Congress
icon Rahul Gandhi talked of being the soldier of Asli Bharat read tribals, trust our Right Honourables to hike their
salary and perks by over 300%! The debate on the CWG uncovered the ugly truth
that today corruption has become a low risk, high-profit area. All interested
in feathering their own nests.
Another
example. Take the Question Hour, which is the hyphen between the legislature
and Government. Sixty decisive minutes whereby a MP can ask a Minister for
information and hold him accountable. An analysis of the winter session of
Parliament showed that out of 440 starred questions in the Lok Sabha, only 131
were called. For 44 called questions, the respective MPs were not present,
leading to the collapse of Question Hour. In the Rajya Sabha, of a total of 460
questions admitted only 18% could be orally answered. Notwithstanding, the cost
of running Parliament totals Rs 7.65 crore per day.
It now remains
to be seen whether the ‘new beginning’ by the ‘youthful’ leadership will usher
in bi-partisanship on issues of national interest. Of out-of-the box thinking. We
are happy for their new-found comfort level and politics of consensus. But are
they concerned about us or is it their politics as usual? Fingers are crossed.
----- INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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