Parliament: A steady decline

Both Houses of parliament were adjourned sine die a day in advance on Thursday after a winter session which marked another low in relations between the government and the Opposition and the functioning of parliament as such. Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla has said that the House had recorded 74 per cent productivity and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Jagdeep Dhankhar has remarked that the Upper House had registered 79 per cent productivity. But the so-called ‘productivity’ numbers do not show the manner in which parliament functioned. Both the presiding officers regretted the “unruly” behaviour and the “weaponising” of disruptions by the Opposition. But in doing so, they clearly spoke for only one side, the government side.

They unfortunately did not rise above the fray in either House and, forgetting that they should be just, reasonable and impartial in running the Houses, conducted themselves as if they were representatives of the government. The decline of the presiding officers’ conduct has been steady through our parliamentary history, but it was explicit in this session more than at any time in the past. 

The Houses saw the unprecedented suspension of 147 members of the Opposition in the last week, after the expulsion of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in the first week. The suspensions were a response to the Opposition’s demand for a statement from the Prime Minister or the Home Minister on the security breach in the Lok Sabha on December 13. The endeavour of the government and the ruling side in parliament should always be to ensure that it functions well in the most adverse situations, too, with the Opposition’s participation. But the session saw the government’s determination, aided by the presiding officers, to run the Houses without the Opposition, with suspensions coming in large instalments day after day. Legislations of major consequence were passed without much discussion and debate. Such legislations will lack legitimacy. Parliament’s basic function of deliberation and scrutiny of the government’s decisions and actions has long been defeated with the treasury benches reduced to cheerleading the government and its top leaders rather than to hold them to account as representatives of the people. That became more pronounced this session.

When Opposition members are pushed out of parliament on to the streets, the message is that the institution, under the current dispensation, cannot accommodate them. That marks a negation of the system we have given unto ourselves. When the government functions without an Opposition, it shows itself to be authoritarian. When questioning and protests are denied legitimate channels, they may look for wrong ways of expression. 

The winter session was also practically the last full session of the 17th Lok Sabha before the general elections, which are due in May next year. The steady decline of parliament in every aspect of its functioning has continued, and the trend does not inspire much hope of a spring coming after the winter. That is a matter for serious reflection and introspection for everyone, especially the government and the ruling party.