Parliament is the nation’s ultimate representative forum to raise people’s issues, discuss them and find solutions. However, this august institution is progressively losing its charm as there is hardly any discussion even on new legislations or matters of public importance. Instead, it has become a theatre for protests and muscle-flexing. This is also explained from the fact that 139 MPs have been suspended from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha during the eight years of the Modi government, while 51 suspensions took place between 2006 and 2014. Every parliament session starts with a show of might by the Opposition; and now the non-BJP parties led by the Congress.
From Presidents down to legal luminaries and public-spirited citizens, many have been expressing their anguish over the way the parliamentary system itself is taken for a ride within the confines of parliament. But, right to protest is supreme here and the people’s right to have the basic means of livelihood is secondary. To say that the Modi government’s rough and tough attitudes are resulting in a worsening of the situation, as former Union minister P Chidambaram argued, is only one side of the story. Registering a protest and a brief walkout are accepted forms of resistance in parliament and legislatures. But, things have reached such a pass that the government is not allowed to transact business, if only for the opposition to derive meaningless publicity mileage. The GST Bill, for instance, languished for years in Parliament due to stonewalling by the Opposition in Rajya Sabha before it was turned into a finance bill and cleared through Lok Sabha, making use of a special provision. The expenses for conducting the parliament come to about three crore per hour as per current reckoning. In real terms, this could be much higher, considering the expenses for police deployment outside parliament and the like. A similar scenario exists in state assemblies too.
It is often noted that discipline is alien to people’s representatives. Politicians come from the grassroots, having spent their schooling days in street fights. The educated, well-groomed have very little scope to win the people’s mandate. Overall, this presents a pitiable scenario. The hoi polloi, by their very nature, prefer muscle-flexing personalities as their representatives. It is here that course corrections are called for. Democracy must evolve, adapt to change and refashion itself in more acceptable and meaningful forms. Only a strong leader with vision for the future can attempt it. The essence of democracy is in its practice.
