Home arrow Archives arrow Political Diary arrow Political Diary 2010 arrow Sad Epitaph Of Session:NETA-PUBLIC DISCONNECT, by Poonam I Kaushish, 11 Dec, 2010
 
Home
News and Features
INFA Digest
Parliament Spotlight
Dossiers
Publications
Journalism Awards
Archives
RSS
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sad Epitaph Of Session:NETA-PUBLIC DISCONNECT, by Poonam I Kaushish, 11 Dec, 2010 Print E-mail

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)

 

< Previous   Next >
 
   
     
 
 
  Mambo powered by Best-IT