Political Diary
New Delhi, 11 December 2010
Sad Epitaph Of
Session
NETA-PUBLIC
DISCONNECT
By Poonam I Kaushish
How does one begin an epitaph of the just-concluded winter
session of Parliament? That it passed into history by being adjourned daily
since it began on 9 November, thanks to a united Opposition demanding a Joint
Parliamentary Committee on the Rs 1.76 lakh crore telecom scam. That its tenure
witnessed a sharp decline reducing Parliament virtually to zero. Recklessly
assaulted from within and without. That it affixed its seal of approval on
political harlotry of the worst kind.
Tragically, it suffered this ignominy and more with none
willing to pause and ponder, and prevent its crumble. Notwithstanding, many MPs
individually felt strongly that something must be done. But collectively connived
and concluded that nothing could or should be done. Perhaps, they believe that
Parliamentary proceedings have little material bearing on the course of
politics in this deterioration of political culture and ethos. Whither
Parliament?
Why only telecom, ghotala after ghotala is making a mockery of India’s democratic Parliamentary pretensions of focusing on the issue of probity
in public life. A piece of raucous political theater played in the
majestic circular building decade after decade. Whereby Government accountability to Parliament is blatantly
trampled upon by the Treasury Benches. Stoking concerns of how powerless Parliament is to stem
the rot.
The contempt of the powers-that-be for this high temple of
democracy can be gauged from the fact that even as the Opposition and UPA II slugged it out
over the losses caused to the national exchequer due to the 2G spectrum scam,
none cared that their stand-off resulted in wastage of over Rs. 200 crore (each
minute costs over Rs26,000) on account of Parliament not functioning for the entire 25-day session. The Government’s plans to introduce
24 new Bills this session including those on land
acquisitions, reforming accounting standards, amending labour laws all came to naught.
Scandalous was how supplementary grants of Rs1024.61 crore were passed amid din by voice vote, without
debate.
True,
the Congress can crow over how it used its brute numbers and intellectual
ability to rationalize the irrational. Of how it got the better of a united
and tenacious Opposition’s endevour to constitute a JPC. But it cannot shun its responsibility to
ensure that the Opposition's legitimate concerns are addressed
and Parliament doesn't suffer. Shockingly,
not only did the Prime Minister choose to remain silent during the entire
fracas but left on a foreign visit prior to the curtain ringing down on the
‘aborted’ session.
Over the years, Parliament has been disrupted for
some very trivial reasons--all parties have been guilty of it some time or the
other--but that does not negate the occasions when the Opposition was seen to
be on the right track. By ensuring that the Opposition does not have its say
the treasury benches are willy-nilly only fast-tracking the breakdown of Parliament, which serves nobody’s
interest, neither people’s nor MPs, leaving a widening chasm that may take
years to bridge, if at all.
What
is further disgusting and, indeed, most unfortunate is that our polity largely
continues to drift along smugly without any sense of shame or a desire to turn
a new page. Exemplified by how despite the turmoil, our Right
Honourables gathered in their fineries for their traditional group photo.
All forgetting that Parliament is a forum for discussion
and for any Government to shut out debate simply because of its own
vulnerability amounts to authoritarianism. The very spirit of parliamentary
democracy would be in danger if the Opposition is sought to be silenced by
taking recourse to mere technicalities or judicial interventions.
Yet, after every session, both sides bemoan the
loss of working days because of frequent interruptions and adjournments.
Statistics also show that legislative business done in each Lok Sabha has
progressively declined over the years, and increasingly more time is spent on “non-Parliamentary
or extra-Parliamentary'' means used by MPs to be heard.
It's not just the declining number of hours that
MPs put in for debating questions that is worrying, but also the quality of
debates has plummeted. “Legislation has become more complex and we need
intelligent, threadbare discussion of the issues but all we get is shouting and
abuse. People want to know what MPs think about the Kashmir
crisis, terrorism, inflation et al. Sadly, the link between MPs and the aam aadmi is weakening,” bemoaned a
9-term MP.
In this milieu any wonder that the centre of
politics has moved from Parliament to the judiciary and civil society. Our Right Honourables must
introspect about what kind of legacy they are going to leave behind. Will they
allow Parliament to sink under the weight of its increasing decadence?
Can we expect Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who, as
Finance Minister in the 90s, initiated bold economic reforms and paved way for progress,
do the same and reform Parliament? Does his Government have the courage to institute
a JPC to get to the bottom of this mega scam?
The time has come for all MPs to see how they can strengthen
Parliamentary democracy before people begin to mock at it in sheer disgust? One
way is that on certain issues both the Government and the Opposition
should rise above sectarian political loyalties and be guided more by the sense
of the House than the rule book. Another is to make the Executive accountable by taking a leaf out
of Westminster. The House of Commons has a convention of a “PM’s Hour” of 40
minutes a week, wherein the MPs can question him on any issue and this session
is extempore.
Our netagan
also need to implement one of the recommendations made by a conference of Presiding
officers held in Shimla in 1997. Namely, “strict system of time-use” be
introduced and implemented in all legislative bodies to avoid “wasteful public
expenditure.” Whereby, the Speaker or Chairman of their respective legislatures
should “calculate the cost of each second of their House-time and give wide
publicity for the same to the public.”
In India’s coalition milieu our leadership must invest time
and money in ensuring that they pick the right legislators to make Parliament a
more effective forum. Else the increased interventions and recent admonishments
by the judiciary, may well aid a process by which the Courts will eventually
marginalize them.
Time
for our polity to look within whether the system has failed them or they have failed
the system? They must grasp that a rot which can be cured must never be
endured. All those perceived as corrupt and ugly should be thrown out or at
best sidelined. Parties should present new faces which are both clean and
credible. No neta, howsoever mighty
is indispensable. Remember what Gandhiji said: “In matters of conscience, the
law of majority has no place.” People devoid of conscience have no
right to stay in power ---- INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature
Alliance)
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