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)