By Harihar Swarup
The biggest news is that the Monsoon Session of Parliament has been functioning normally. This is, perhaps, for the first time in four years, since the BJP came to power, that the two houses have been conducting business without interruptions and there is no adjournment for an hour, two hours and for the day. On the eve of the Monsoon Session, almost all newspapers predicted that this session too, like previous ones, will be a washout, but all of them proved wrong. The highlight of the ongoing session was admission of a no-confidence against the Modi government. During the day-long debate, talents from both sides sparkled and came to the fore. In the last session too, Opposition made a bid to bring the no-trust motion but Speaker, Sumitra Mahajan, did not give her consent on the plea that the house was not in order.
Question is often asked why this session has been functioning normally? Maybe, say a few MPs, because of the coming Lok Sabha elections; the members do not want to show to electorate that they are a rowdy lot. Also with live telecast of Parliament’s proceeding members vied with each other to show that they were more assertive. Hence the rowdy scenes.
The practice of disrupting the proceedings, rushing to the well of the house and forcing the presiding officers to adjourn the house was started during Rajiv Gandhi’s time, that is 1985 onwards, and the BJP members took the lead. Disruptions touched its peak when the issue of alleged kickbacks in the Bofors guns deal was raised in two houses. The allegations were yet to be proved, apparently there was no truth in the charge of kickback. Bofors howitzers proved great asset during Kargil war. Each shell fired was a salute to Rajiv Gandhi’s memory. Even before 1985, proceedings were disrupted and members rushed to the well of the house but such incidents were rare.
Subsequently, session after session was washed out. Important business, even the budget, were passed without discussion. The 15th Lok Sabha had total of 357 sittings. The house sat only 1,344 hours out of which 891 hours were wasted due to obstructions and adjournments. This was the case when scams like 2G spectrum, Adarsh Society, Commonwealth games, allotment of coal mines came before Parliament. On the issue of a separate Telangana state, Parliament’s proceedings were adjourned several times.
The members adopted various ways of obstruction, some members coming to the well of the house, flashing placards. According to rules of the house, when members come to the well, the presiding officers should ideally adjourn the proceedings. In the last session, while on one hand the no-confidence motion against the cabinet was dismissed by the Speaker saying that the House was not in order, on the other, many bills, including the Union Budget, were passed amid nosy protect even without discussion and debate.
Evaluation and estimates are made as to how much do the frequent parliamentary disruptions cost the country. The repeated interruptions and adjournments not only diminishes the capacity of Parliament to function, but also blurs the concept of Parliamentary democracy, and evaluating the loss in monetary terms would be a farce.
At one point veteran leader L K Advani was so upset with the state of affairs in Parliament that he had said in the Lok Sabha that his inner voice says he wanted to resign. There is a saying that in the democracy the minorities speak their mind, but majority does what is in their mind. Perhaps, for this reason parliamentary democracy is called the dictatorship of majority. But now the situation has changed. Now minority parties create barriers and the majority parties do not discuss or debate in Parliament. Every MP and a political party has the constitutional right to express their views in Parliament freely.
Over the last decade, the control of Parliament and Assemblies over government finances has decreased significantly owing to change in the structure of government expenditure and revenues.
During 15th Lok Sabha the eight successive days of adjournment of Parliament without any major business translated into a loss of staggering Rs. 63 crore with the expenditure for each day of a session calculated at Rs.7.8 crore. The controversial 2G spectrum may have caused colossal losses to the national exchequer, but the continuing opposition protests over Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) also have led to a huge financial drain. Barring the last day of a winter session, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have not functioned normally for even one full day to transact legislative business.
It is true that the time lost to disruption has dramatically increased in the last two decades. In the 15th Lok Sabha (2009-14), when the Congress led UPA was in government, as much as 40 per cent of the total time was lost to disruption, making it the least productive Lok Sabha ever.
Surprisingly, the current Monsoon session has been so far functioning normally. Both the Opposition and the Government would do a great job if they maintain this trend and, thereby, save parliament democracy from dying a slow death. Of late, there has been talk that parliamentary democracy is not suited to India. Hence a section talked of switching over to presidential form of government. Constitutional experts say presidential form is not suited to India and, therefore, Parliamentary form has to be saved. (IPA Service)
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