|
Political Diary
New
Delhi, 7 December 2021
Diminshing
Parliament
TIME TO EVOKE ESMA
By Poonam I Kaushish
Yawn! We have been
through this before. Of how India’s temple of democracy Parliament is increasingly
being called a mockery, tamasha and
circus wherein crores of tax payers’ money is being swept away by the verbal
torrent of tu-tu-mein-mein leading to
muscling-muzzling, walk-outs and pandemonium without even the slightest tinge
of remorse. All spewing sheer contempt!
With
ruthless politics taking over Sansad’s winter session is back to ‘business as
usual’. Whereby, it took just four minutes for Lok Sabha to repeal three
contentious farm laws which saw farmers gather at Delhi’s border for over a
year, refusing to heed Opposition’s demand for debate.
In
Rajya Sabha everything continues to be in a state of constant disarray thanks
to Chairman Venkaiah Naidu suspending 12 MPs, six Congress, two each from TMC and Shiv
Sena, one each from CPI and CPM for committing “sacrilege through their
unprecedented acts of misconduct, contemptuous, flinging papers at Chair, unruly,
violent behaviour and intentional attacks on security personnel last session.” Justifying
it as “to
protect democracy” despite Opposition chorusing, “murder of democracy.”
Recall, not only was
the monsoon session abruptly adjourned two days ahead of schedule 11 August amid
unrelenting Opposition protests over Pegasus snooping row and controversial farm
laws. Worse, our MPs shamed democracy by creating mayhem, tearing Bills,
standing on Secretary General’s tables, physically attacked each other in Rajya
Sabha while Government brazened it to
score political points.
Scandalously it was the
least productive session in Modi Sarkar’s
second term and third in the last two decades, 15 Bills were passed in less
than 10 minutes and 26 in less than 30 minutes. In the Rajya Sabha 19 Bills
were passed, an average of 1.1 Bills per day. While the total time lost due to
interruptions and adjournments was 76 hours 26 minutes compared to 4 hours 30
minutes in Rajya Sabha’s 231st session 2014.
Undeniably, this is
not the first nor will be the last time MPs have been suspended. The first was
in 1963 when few Lok Sabha MPs interrupted President Radhakrishnan’s joint
address to both Houses and then walked out. In 1989, 63 for disrupting Lok
Sabha discussion on Thakar Commission report. In 2010, 7 Rajya Sabha MPs for
snatching Women’s Reservation Bill from the
Minister.
Indeed, a sorry state of affairs as there’s no clarity on
laws being notified without proper debate among lawmakers, leaving many gaps
and ambiguity in legislations as one does not know what is the purpose for a enacted
law.
Three examples: This
session the three contentious farm laws were repealed without debate as in
monsoon sittings. The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment
Bill, 2021 which enables privatization of general insurance companies was approved
in 8 minutes, Taxation Laws (Amendment)
Bill, 2021 in just 5 minutes despite Opposition demanding they be sent to a
select committee to scrutinize each legislation with a fine tooth comb and
ensure a good law.
Alas, over the years Parliament
instead of being a place for reasoned debate and legislative business continues
to be trivialised and denigrated. More disgusting and perturbing is not that
politics of dadagiri and
obstructionism is becoming more the rule rather than exception, but that our
polity largely continues to drift along smugly without any shame or desire to
turn a new page and prevent Parliament’s crumble.
Bringing things to
such a pass that pursuit of power, pelf and patronage is replacing law making.
The figures tell all. Parliament spends less than 10% of time on legislative
matters and the most on trivialities. Never mind, our MPs go blue in the face
about upholding the best tenets of Parliamentary democracy! Sic.
Many members have
made it a habit of rushing into the Well of the House. Worse, the Treasury
Benches brandish their numerical power and the Opposition flaunt their lung and
muscle power by creating bedlam instead of concentrating on content. Whereby, Parliament’s
supremacy has been replaced with the ‘to the streets’ bugle. Thus, in this
deteriorating political culture and ethos, Parliamentary proceedings have
little material bearing on the course of politics.
Underscoring that
Parliament is in crisis and the system is breaking down as it neither fulfills its
function of deliberative lawmaking nor holds the Executive responsible. Time
now to give serious thought to rectifying the flaws in our system and urgently
overhauling it. Rules have to be drastically changed to put Parliament back on
the rails and establish supremacy of the House.
True, there is no
magic remedy. The process has to be slow and long to rectify the flaws. Rules
have to be drastically changed to put Parliament back on track and ensure no
one can hold the House to ransom. We have to be clear: Are we for democracy as
a civilized form of Government or have we degenerated into a “democracy” of
devils and fixers? Remember, there can be no place in a 21st-century Parliament
for people upholding19th-century prejudices.
The onus lies across
the board. Today it the Congress, NCP, TMC etc, yesterday it was the BJP which
did not let Congress-led UPA I and II function asserting “Parliamentary
obstruction is not undemocratic and not allowing it to function is also a form
of democracy.” The 15th Lok Sabha’s productivity was only 61%.
Time our MPs redeem themselves.
One way is to build consensus between Government and Opposition whereby they rise
above sectarian political loyalties, heed voices of reason and be guided by
what the country needs. But therein lies the rub. With sharp battle lines
between Treasury and Opposition this distrust will only further devalue
Parliament and lower its image.
Our
leaders need to understand Parliamentary democracy provides for a civilized
form of Government based on discussion, debate and consensus which are its
lifeline. In fact Prime Minister Modi recently suggested a via media by taking
out two hours, half a day or one day for healthy and quality debate which adds
valuable inputs free from everyday politics.
If
Parliament has to be put back on rails our netas
should collectively heed voices of reason, change rules to ensure accountability.
Perhaps, bring Parliament under ESMA (Essential
Services Management Act) wherein disrupting its functioning will become an
offence, specially, as challenges confronting the nation within and
without have increased manifold.
As
India celebrates 75 years of independence, Parliament is a bulwark of our democracy
with a heavy task of keeping an image which will gain it the faith and respect
of people. Because, if that is lost, then one does not know what could happen
later. This faith and respect requires to be restored. Will our netagan oblige? ----- INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
|
Archives 
