A Dangerous Fall: The Hindu Editorial on the Standard of India’s Parliamentary Sessions

It is not unreasonable to say that the standards of parliamentary functioning have declined in recent years. The reliance and participation of expert opinion through the agency of Standing and Parliamentary Committees, among other factors, in the quality of discussion, in terms of the time taken to devise legislation, the conduct of useful debates in both tone and duration, and Parliamentary sessions have been found desired. This decline is the result of representatives of political parties using Parliament more for political farce rather than using it as a platform for serious legislative work. The practice was given prominence by the Bharatiya Janata Party during the tenure of the United Progressive Alliance in government, and has now been imitated by the Congress and other parties, which are increasingly using the Houses as grounds of protest. . Disruption has become a norm, with the opposition trying to use the debate as a ploy to gain publicity – as the BJP did before – but even more damaging to the legislative business, the ruling party said. Opted to pass the bills without adequate discussion. Other indecent scenes in Parliament last week — the Uproar over sporadic use of a word by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (he has apologised), and then Congress President Sonia Gandhi thrashed – An example of a huge fall in standards has also been given.

The officers in charge of maintaining decorum and order have meanwhile decided to take punitive action. suspending 27 MPs, for the entire monsoon session many would just show placards, giving the impression that they would face no opposition from the opposition, and would in turn escalate their hostility towards the ruling party. This is further compounded by the ruling party’s stand on the opposition’s requests for a debate on key issues like price rise. Data from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats shows that there has been a three-fold increase in the suspension of MPs during the BJP’s rule in comparison to the last eight years. Clearly, MPs should try to reduce this animosity and the onus of doing so should rest with the ruling party and its representatives. Suspension and cancellation of talks will go a long way in improving relations. As the peasant protests that lasted more than a year showed, a lack of adequate parliamentary process in deliberating the law of consequence can result in social conflict and a democratic reduction in outcomes. India’s parliamentary history has enough tools, mechanisms, structures and precedents on which the present set of legislators can be relied upon to bring back useful deliberations. Parliamentarians must realize that the basis of an active democracy is a prosperous legislature.