The ongoing budget session of the parliament has seen maximum disruptions and subsequent adjournments. Barring the day of the presentation of the budget there has hardly been any smooth session. Speeches and statements made by the members, including the ministers have completely been lost in the din and cacophony of altercations and confrontations. Sadly, there seems to be no light visible at the end of the dark tunnel.
In a parliamentary democracy, both the ruling party as well as the opposition must accept, acknowledge and respect each other. Unfortunately, they neither accept, nor acknowledge or respect each other. Members from the treasury and opposition benches behave as if they are sworn enemies of each other. These days the scene inside our parliament looks worse than the retreat ceremony at Wagah Border where the soldiers from two neighbours, India and Pakistan, resort to mock shows of hostility. In the parliament, sadly, the hostility is real.
Things have come to such a passé that the opposition parties have decided to bring a “no confidence motion” against Speaker Om Birla in the Lok Sabha. This indicates the lowest point the mutual respect and relationship between the ruling and opposition parties have reached. Normally the opposition parties display a degree of deference towards the chair. But now even that much decency has been given up.
The opposition may have its reasons to feel aggrieved. No Speaker acts in a completely impartial manner. That is quite natural. The Presiding Officer of the house will naturally go with the majority. The treasury benches do have numerical advantage, which they are entitled to use. However, there is a limit to everything. Eventually it is the treasury benches, which stand at a disadvantage in such situations. If the parliamentary institution gets discredited, which it is at continuous risk of, the blame will have to be shared by both.
The onus is always on the treasury benches to ensure the success and smooth functioning of the legislature. The opposition practically does not have any stakes. It always scores a point whenever the parliament is disrupted and eventually adjourned. It is better that the treasury benches use their numerical strength in ensuring that the parliament is made to function, come what may.
Moreover, the current disruptions are really for not any important reason. The government should ideally have allowed Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to speak and raise the issue he wanted. Even if he was quoting from an “unpublished/ unreleased” book of a former army chief, the government could have easily and conveniently rebutted his charges with facts and logic.
In fact, the government did not have anything to hide or be defensive about what former Chief of Army Staff Gen MM Naravane has mentioned in his “unreleased” autobiography. He has said he was clearly asked to do whatever he deemed fit. As mentioned earlier also in these columns, as the army chief he deserved to be given full operational authority, which he was given. Nobody stopped him to take any action. Nobody imposed any restrictions on him.
Also read: Opposition submits no-confidence resolution against LS Speaker
Those in the treasury benches who tried to prevent Rahul from raising this issue did no good to the government. The issue would have been closed then and there only. Not being allowed to speak provided the Leader of the Opposition an opportunity to drag the issue too far.
On the Indo-US trade deal also, the government should have made a statement in the parliament. Again it did not have to be defensive about US President Donald Trump announcing the finalisation of the agreement. By now, we are quite familiar with the way Trump works and the way he rushes with the announcements.
A trade deal, for that matter any deal, is a “give and take” arrangement. No deal can be one sided. Nor did anyone in the country expect Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get any special or extra concessions from Trump. He has been ruthless in dealing with other countries on trade and tariffs and has made no distinction between the allies and adversaries. India could not have expected anything better under such circumstances. It is not a one-sided deal in favour of the US either.
While the opposition parties have already targeted the Speaker, accusing him of being partisan, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju should take an initiative and reach out to the opposition to make the parliament function. He should directly approach the Leader of the Opposition, as also the leaders of other opposition parties to work out a way for the smooth functioning of the parliament.
Heavens won’t fall if Gandhi is allowed to speak on Gen Naravane’s book or the Indo-US trade deal. He will have to substantiate his charges that he plans to make against the government. Otherwise, baseless allegations have a tendency to boomerang as public in modern times is well aware of the facts and take nothing at face value.
The government and the opposition need to realise that at stake is the credibility of the parliament, which is the foundation of the democracy in India. A weakened or discredited institution will only lead to weakening of the democracy. That such confrontation should take place between the ruling and opposition parties in the 79th year of independence does not reflect well on the evolution of democracy and leadership of the country. Those who do not feel bad about it really don’t care about the nation and its credibility as a strong and robust democracy everyone otherwise is so proud of.
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