Parliament diminished

Parliament’s monsoon session went the way of many past sessions that saw all parliamentary business drowned by ruckus and disruptions. Both Houses were prorogued two days ahead of schedule as it was clear that the remaining two days of the session would only be lost to din. From the time the session began on July 19, no normal business took place in either House on most days as the Opposition disrupted the proceedings over the government’s unwillingness to allow discussion on various issues, including the Pegasus snooping and hacking scandal, the farmers’ protest and the rise in prices, mainly fuel prices. There was some cooperation between the two sides only during a discussion of the Constitution amendment bill on reservation for OBCs. Twenty other bills were passed within minutes without discussion, and the last day saw a controversial bill on insurance being passed amidst stormy scenes.

Both the government and the Opposition have blamed each other for the barracking and paralysis of the Houses. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu expressed anguish over the disruptions and the government side, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has faulted the Opposition. The Opposition has criticised the government for not showing the spirit of accommodation and for adopting autocratic methods. Disruption has become the norm, and confrontation has replaced conversation. The monsoon session had a productivity of just 21 per cent for the Lok Sabha and 28 per cent for the Rajya Sabha. The percentages do not fully show the rancour, the ill-will and the deterioration of standards that the highest forum of democracy has witnessed. The damage to Parliament is obvious, and it is a reflection of the damage other institutions of democracy have suffered and of the wider impairment of democratic ethos as such in the country.

It is the government and the ruling party which have the greater responsibility to ensure the normal functioning of Parliament and to see that its legislative business and deliberations are conducted democratically and efficiently. The Opposition has the right to ask questions and the government has to give answers. What most contributed to the stalling of Parliament was the Pegasus issue, on which the government was not ready to concede an inch on the Opposition parties’ demand for a discussion. The reasons for the government’s refusal to talk about it are unconvincing, and the circumstances relating to it remain unclear even as there are discussions on the matter in various forums, including the Supreme Court. In the melee, the government managed to get away with much of its business and without a discussion on the Pegasus affair and its role in it. The resulting deadlock has further diminished Parliament and our democracy.