{"id":233,"date":"2024-05-09T19:13:39","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T13:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/knowledgekart.in\/blog\/?p=233"},"modified":"2024-05-15T03:09:15","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T21:39:15","slug":"four-reasons-why-parliament-is-becoming-irrelevant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knowledgekart.in\/blog\/four-reasons-why-parliament-is-becoming-irrelevant\/","title":{"rendered":"Four reasons why Parliament is becoming irrelevant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four reasons why Parliament is becoming irrelevant<\/em><\/h2>\n
\"Four<\/a>
Four reasons why Parliament is becoming irrelevant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Every morning, a familiar spectacle. Parliament begins, uproar ensues, MPs compete with runner Usain Bolt in a high-speed relay to the well, and immediately the People\u2019s House shuts down. Another day of taxpayer money wasted, debate on life-affecting legislation stymied, and yet another nail hammered into the coffin of Westminster-style democracy in India. Parliamentary democracy, RIP?<\/p>\n

For the last two weeks, Parliament has worked just five hours. The Union Budget, the country\u2019s most important financial document, was rammed through in a din. There was no debate on where taxpayers\u2019 hard-earned money was being spent. MPs\u2019 salary hikes were pushed through too, as was an outrageous amendment to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act , ensuring that foreign donations to parties cannot be scrutinised with retrospective effect stretching all the way back to 1976.<\/p>\n

Not only is the FCRA amendment a serious blow to transparency, the manner in which crucial legislation is being bamboozled through underlines how democratic institutions are being systematically undermined. Even top sports stars play by the rules of the sport, but clearly leaders armed with hefty mandates feel they can overthrow the rules and norms of the democratic game altogether.<\/p>\n

Why has Parliament become irrelevant? Here are four possible reasons. First, there\u2019s a catastrophic breakdown of relations between government and opposition. The government, arrogant in its brute majority, is contemptuous of the opposition and ready to bulldoze its rivals. Yes, there\u2019ve been acrimonious sessions in the past. During Rajiv Gandhi\u2019s tenure, the opposition boycotted the House over Bofors. But relations have never been as dire as today, making ours a hyper-polarised polity.<\/p>\n

The opposition, for its part, is keeping up a shrill diatribe. When you liken elections to a war between Kauravas and Pandavas, when you declare that the word \u2018Modi\u2019 is itself synonymous with corruption, as Rahul Gandhi did at the Congress plenary, animosity is so acutely personalised that no business can be done jointly on the floor of the House. No all-party meeting has been called. The government refuses to reach out while the opposition remains badly splintered. Unlike Jawaharlal Nehru who attended Parliament every day, the PM is missing in action and Rahul Gandhi is busy electioneering.<\/p>\n

PM Modi once touched his forehead to the entrance of Parliament as a mark of respect, but in the Gujarat model of politics, dissenting MLAs were sometimes suspended for as long as a year. The manner in which a key law like Aadhaar was pushed through as a money bill shows an impatience with democratic debate. If the Budget was passed amid ruckus, why is a no-confidence motion being stalled because of the same ruckus? Because the government has no inclination for a debate.<\/p>\n

The second reason for the growing irrelevance of Parliament is the rampant populism that has taken hold of every party. Every populist demand of states, from special status for Andhra to greater share in Cauvery waters, is an excuse to paralyse Parliament in the quest to appeal to ever-narrower regional constituencies. Isn\u2019t Parliament supposed to represent all Indians? Instead, the manner in which Andhra and Tamil Nadu MPs are stalling the House shows that the national agenda is now hostage to competing regionalist demands.<\/p>\n

The third reason is the disconnect between electability and parliamentary performance. In the 1950s and \u201960s, swashbuckling parliamentarians like Piloo Mody, Nath Pai, George Fernandes and Minoo Masani shot to national fame and won elections because of their parliamentary skills. They did so in pre-TV days when speeches and walkouts were not staged for the camera.<\/p>\n

Today, how you perform in Parliament has almost nothing to do with getting elected. When winning a seat is about religion, caste, money power, local factors or simply about being a lamp post in a \u2018Modi wave\u2019, why should anyone bother with how they perform in Parliament? Around 58% of the 16th Lok Sabha are first-time MPs who remain mostly mute during debates or stage theatrics for the camera.<\/p>\n

The fourth reason is the growing municipalisation or Vidhan Sabha-isation of Parliament. MPs complain that instead of debating national issues, they are asked by their constituents to fix drains and nursery admissions. The idea that the MP represents a national collective and is a studious, knowledgeable lawmaker has been destroyed by the lumpenisation of politics. Many are now no different from municipal corporators or zilla chiefs expected to answer local needs, judged by their ability to \u2018fix\u2019 the system, not by their intellect. No wonder Parliament\u2019s ability to debate and frame laws is dying.Parliament today is in ICU, and citizens are waiting helplessly in an empty hospital waiting room. This echoing, growing distance between citizens and rulers may soon become rather dangerous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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