Trampling Parliament

 

 

 

Trampling Parliament

Parliament is a temple of democracy- a forum to discuss and debate national issues, reflecting diverse opinions.The Parliamentary democracy is a representative government, where the opposition plays a crucial role. In UK, the Opposition Leader of the House of Commons is called alternative Prime Minister. It is the responsibility of the opposition to check abuse of power and provide checks and balances in the system of governance. The Council of Ministers, headed by the Prime Minister, is governed by the principle of individual and collective responsibility to the Parliament.

Though the Parliamentary democracy runs on the basis of majority support, it doesn’t mean the majority would dominate and suppressing the views of the opposition. However, with the ruling party enjoying a brute majority, there is a growing tendency to ignore and bypass the opposition.  During the reign of UPA II Arun Jaitley, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha maintained that the opposition had the right to disrupt the proceedings.  In the 15^th Lok Sabha, the opposition did not allow the parliament to function on the issue of G- 2 spectrum until the government conceded its demand for probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee. But the then opposition party BJP now ruling the country, the role is reversed. The spirit of accommodating the opposition point of view is grossly missing. Consequently, the opposition parties resort to extreme steps of walking into the Well, holding placards, protesting and obstructing the proceedings in order to be heard.

The Parliament is downgraded.  Narendra Modi, who is the Leader of Lok Sabha, chooses not to attend its proceedings, showing scant respect to Parliament. As Head of the Government, he didn’t think it necessary to attend the Parliament even when the serious national issues of corona pandemic and the Chinese aggression in Ladakh were discussed. Pandit Nehru, who laid the foundation for Parliamentary democracy in India, used to make it a point to attend every sitting and intervene on crucial issues stamping his moral authority. He could have easily ignored the minuscule opposition, with his party commanding three-fourth support in Parliament during the first three terms 1952-1967. But being a democrat by temperament and training; he was conscious of history and his responsibility for posterity. He listened with respect and accommodated dissenting voices of opposition. That is how the healthy parliamentary conventions and practices were established.

What happened in Rajya Sabha on September 20, 2020, is deplorable.  The opposition members walking into the Well, protesting against passing of the Farm Bills, disrupting the proceedings and trying to prevent the Dy.Chairman Harivansh from conducting the business, cannot be condoned. However, the manner in which he conducted the proceedings, passing the controversial Farm Bills by voice vote in the din and by rejecting the opposition demand to refer them to select committee for scrutiny and a division of votes, is unacceptable. And “this was the last straw on the camel’s back”, said Gulam Nabi Azad, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.

In 2014, Speaker Meera Kumari got the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganization Bill passed when the House was not in order by suspending 18 Lok Sabha members who were pretesting against the Bill. The Congress Party paid a heavy price for its shortsightedness and political opportunism in pushing through the Bill on the eve of general election. The party’s leadership was misled to believe that the bifurcation of the state would lead to its reaping electoral dividends in the new State of Telangana. The party was wiped out in both the states which were its strong bastions. 

The Dy. Charmin of Rajya Sabha acted in a very partisan manner. The heavens would not have fallen if the House was adjourned for the day due to the pandemonium. And with the government using Parliament to have its way, he had a special responsibility to look beyond the Treasury Benches and accommodate the opposition views. As  Mumbai Mirror ( 22/9) reported: “when the numbers looked tricky for the NDA, the Dy.Chairman did the job for the treasury benches even as the Opposition questioned the way he went about it.” Perhaps he was returning the favor for being elected the Dy.Chairman for a second term.

Some 12 opposition parties moved a non-confidence motion against him- first of its kind.  The Chairman Venkaiah Naidu too acted in a partisan manner by suspending the eight opposition members instead for what he called their ‘gross disorderly conduct.’  And also rejected the no-confidence motion against the Dy.Chairman, by misinterpreting the Article 90{c) of the Constitution. The Presiding Officers are expected to rise above the party politics and function absolutely in a non-partisan manner. The “events in the upper house and the suspension of MPs, especially is disquieting when the Parliament session is truncated, Question House is suspended and Zero Hour is abbreviated in the name of the pandemic”(HT 21/9).  As the Indian Express Editorial (21/9) says, “the forcible ramming through of the farm bills, the stubborn refusal to concede any elbow room to the Opposition, be it a discussion, a division of votes or a reference to a select committee, underlines a sobering message- this government does not appear to have as yet understood the importance of Parliament, and of playing by its rules.” It is a mockery of Parliamentary democracy.

In July 2008, following the signing of  Indo-US nuclear deal, the Left parties  withdrew  support to the Manmohan Singh government, and asked the Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, who was the CPM member, to quit the post.  He didn’t oblige saying that it would be betrayal of the faith that the House reposed in him and that once he was elected as the Speaker he was above the party politics and not bound by the party whip.  The CPM General Secretary Prakash Kharad expelled him from the party. But his moral stature in the eyes of leaders cutting across party lines soared high.  

Following the suspension of the opposition leaders, the opposition parties boycotted the Rajya Sabha session, yet again unprecedented.   But the Chairman thought it appropriate to get 15 Bills, including the controversial Farm Bills and the Labour Code Bills passed in less than 7 hours, with the entire opposition benches deserted. This is trampling the Parliament. The winter session of Parliament,convened in an extraordinary situation of the pandemic,by cutting the Question Hour,the government ensured passing of 25 Bills in just 10 days. And none of the Bills was referred to the Select Committees for scrutiny, reducing the Parliament to a mere ‘clearing house’ and a’ rubber stamp’.

In 2019, in the very first session of 17th Lok Sabha, some 35 bills were passed by the Parliament in just 37 sittings- the highest ever. And none of the Bills was referred to Standing and Select Committees for scrutiny either,the most controversial among them being the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill,that abrogated the special status to the state and bifurcated it into two union territories,taking away its statehood,and the historical revolutionary transparency law- The RTI Act (which had the consensus of the Parliament) amended, diluting its independence, making it a toothless tiger, and reducing it to another wing of the bureaucracy.

The bulldozing the opposition doesn’t bode well for the future of Parliamentary democracy. The total breakdown of communication between the ruling party and the opposition is inexplicable. The opposition is a legitimate political rival in a democracy; it can’t be treated like a hostile enemy. It is unfair to use the pandemic period to pass in haste such vital Bills having far reaching national repercussions.

As if the bullying the opposition is not enough, a political twist is given to the developments in Rajya Sabha. The ruling party calling the opposition protest against the Dy.Chairman hurting the ‘Bihari pride.’ Ravi Shankar Prasad saying “an eminent Indian who hails from Bihar was humiliated, the people of Bihar will give a response.” And Narendra Modi tweeting “the great land of Bihar has been teaching us the values of democracy” and “Harivanshji belonged to the land of democracy”- all this  keeping in view the State Assembly election next month.