New Delhi, 18 September 2007
Parliament Withering
Away
DROWNED IN MPs
ONSLAUGHT
By Poonam I Kaushish
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. ----- INFA
(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)
|