ONE is really pained to see Parliament, which is the Sanctum Sanctorum of our democracy, stalled session after session. Our MPs, crying themselves hoarse across party lines are wasting Parliament’s precious time by road blocking proceedings. Disruptions and forced adjournments are now routine, irrespective of who is in the treasury or opposition benches. Lately, the malaise has acquired a sinister tenor. Just about any issue is considered good enough to protest against. Things are going from bad to worse in our parliamentary democracy. With such irresponsible behaviour by our elected representatives, there is no doubt about it any more: the common man is beginning to lose faith in democracy. Isn’t it time that they stopped holding democracy to ransom and playing politics of blackmail?
While the government and the opposition continue with their one dimensional approach of action and reaction, important Bills, including the Lokpal Bill, remain pending. It needs no reiteration that the purpose of Parliamentary democracy is to provide a forum for reasoned deliberation. But the aam admi who elects the members of Parliament to look after his interests is aghast at the audacious manner in which these elected representatives are wrecking this very platform. The sad thing is that politicking has taken precedence over people’s welfare. This is seen clearly in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament where slogan-shouting Legislators are causing presumptive loss to the nation for short-term political gains. They should instead use their lung power to trigger debates and discussions to come out with considered solutions. However, our Parliamentarians have been doing just the opposite.
There is no denying that the government’s latest decision to allow Foreign Direct Investment in the retail sector is fraught with consequences. But this makes it all the more important that Parliament is allowed to function without any hindrance to discuss crucial issues in the national interest. The onus is on all parties to ensure that every Bill is adequately discussed and acted upon. In any case, suspending Parliamentary functions is hardly the answer. Shouting is no substitute to an informed and incisive debate. Instead of making the best use of the Winter Session to bring about meaningful solutions to problems through dialogue, both the opposition and the government are busy squandering precious Parliamentary time through one means or the other. They need to realize that there are alternate mechanisms to register opposition and holding democracy to ransom is surely not one of them. Such a confrontationist approach paints an ugly picture of our system thereby effecting our economic growth. Our elected members need to rise to the expectations of the people and use the forum constructively to generate a debate or even criticise the government.
The Monsoon Session of Parliament transacted very little business. The Winter Session has already become a victim of disruption from day one. The logjam in Parliament costs the country crores of rupees each day. People are subjected to huge losses when our MPs play politics inside the Houses. Whatever is the issue no political party has the right to fritter away the taxpayers’ money. For instance, in 2010 Winter Session, Lok Sabha met for just seven hours instead of the mandatory 23 days. This time also nine days are already lost and each day of no work costs us about 4 crore. On top of that, it is ironic that our non-working MPs keeps on demanding more and more privileges. Instead of getting rapped for absenteeism they have the gall to demand a hike in their salaries every other day. What counts to them is not that they are sending the taxpayer’s money down the drain by keeping Parliament in limbo, but that they are getting their dues to attend the Session. The principle of “no work no pay” should be strictly applied to them, as J & K Chief Minister Mr. Omar Abdullah is only the latest to suggest this. Such legislators have no right to make demand on the nation for showcasing their competitive unruliness.
However, there is certainly a case for the Parliamentarians to be mature and sensible enough to use the August forum to which they have been elected for debating the burning issues facing the nation. It is nobody’s case that crucial issues of the day should not be discussed threadbare. Disruption will defeat its very purpose. Also cross politicking shouldn’t prevail over aam admi’s welfare. It is not enough if it functions just for the sake of functioning. Paying lip service to the poor will not longer do. They should start representing their constituencies rather than being more skewed towards appeasing corporate honchos. What good is that if they do not act to transform the lives of impoverished masses? It is easy to disrupt and stall the House proceedings. But a lot of diligence is needed to build public trust and goodwill.
After all, ours is a democracy and the government is expected to discuss important policy decisions with leaders of other parties before giving them a final shape. In any case the government’s latest move is not really worth stalling Parliamentary work especially since opposition parties can always choose to not implement the decision in states they rule, as several Chief Ministers have declared. The government should not adopt a rigid stance. It must instead make attempts to persuade as well as accommodate the opposition’s concerns. The UPA needs to realise that differences between parties on many contentious issues can only be resolved if the government gives in to their demands to ventilate their own points of views through a discussion in the Parliament. At the same time, the opposition must realise that they will have to face the anger of the people for their belligerent attitude.
There is also a view that it is the Congress game-plan to further plunge Parliament into chaos so that the contentious Lokpal Bill is not taken for consideration. It timing is also suspect as it will divert the opposition’s attention from other issues such as price rise and black money. Whatever the case a dysfunctional Parliament can extract huge losses besides landing the ruling alliance in further trouble. Indeed, the brewing disenchantment among voters will make them lose faith in the government which could adversely impact the party’s prospects in the Assembly elections early next year.