WHO IS KIDDING WHOM
Joginder Singh,
IPS (Retd.) Former Director CBI
The Speaker expressing his exasperation, on 19 th February, 2009, at the yelling MPs, as they stormed the well of the Lok Sabha, came out with the choices of expletives and said: “You do not deserve one paisa of public money…I think Parliament should be adjourned sine die. Public money should not be spent on useless allowances for you.” He also added that the MPs were behaving in the most condemnable manner… “I express my greatest annoyance and condemnation…” A babble of voices of the Honourable Members of Parliament had different and disparate demands. The BSP and BJP were criticising the government for “being anti-Dalit”. The PMK and MDMK wanted amendments to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement and intervention to “stop war” in Sri Lanka , while TDP raised the Satyam issue.
After a lot of pandemonium, Speaker Sh. Chatterjee finally threw the towel. He adjourned the Lok Sabha. But not before making it clear that “I hope that the electorate would deliver an appropriate verdict during the general elections. I hope the people will give their verdict properly. You have to be taught a lesson.” But, it was of no avail.
A day after the Speaker had scolded unruly members and wished that they do not get elected again, he half-withdrew his remarks by saying, ”Yesterday, I made some comments out of little frustration. I want all of you who were standing here, to come back if people support you.” He said, “I am at ease because I am not contesting. I know you are aggrieved, but I have my good wishes for everyone. The truth is, that only unruly behaviour gets attention both from the media and government, as it spices up otherwise drab proceedings as an MP jokingly mentioned to me.”
On August 24, 2006, in a lecture on ‘Judiciary And Legislature under the Constitution' the same Speaker had said: “All of us in the Parliament need to be concerned about it (disorderly behaviour in the House) and endeavour to restore true democratic culture into the functioning of these institutions. Intolerance and denial of rights of others are anti-thetical to democracy. Once people lose faith in the system, no force, no Army, can help save the system.”
On April 30, 2008 describing “Zero Hour” in the Lok Sabha as “torture hour”, the Speaker accused Samajwadi Party members of turning the House into a wrestling ring. “You are not serving the people by shouting. Look at your behaviour... you are threatening. I am not going to accept this. You should know how to behave in the House— kuchh padte nahin, kuchh sunte nahin (they don't study nor listen).”
While inaugurating the 73rd Conference of the Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies, the Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, suggested doing away with the Zero Hour in Parliament since “it has turned out to be the most unruly period” of the House proceedings. “The legislature has come in for public criticism because of the conduct of members inside the House, leading to frequent disruptions and the result, inability of the House to transact business, wastage of time and public money... The Lok Sabha made history when it expelled 10 of its members in the cash-for-query scam in 2005. It was an attempt by the Lok Sabha to cleanse itself. We need to urgently address the issue of decline of personal integrity and probity in public life, and reinforce public faith in our democratic institutions.”
February of every year, more often than the rest, is a great season to make a ruckus and thus be heard in the portals of power. So we had the scenes of unruly behaviours, sweeping across the legislatures all over the country, beginning with Delhi , UP, followed by Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. There is hardly a State Assembly where for some reason or the others, somebody has not expressed his point of view, not only vociferously and forcefully, but also used, whatever he or she could lay hands on it, to drive home his or her point. In one Assembly even the microphones were used as missiles. It woke up the assembly officials, who have now fixed small mikes, which can not be used as small artillery.
The excuse for this kind of waywardness does not have to be solid or based on good reasoning. Anything is good enough, whether it is use of the mike or paper balls or fist fight, or hurling abuses or threatening, to attract attention.
The biggest advantage of this kind of behaviour is that it does not require any intellectual hardship or prodding of one's cranium and meeting the arguments with logic and better viewpoints.
It has been computed that it costs Rs 1.23 crore to run a day's session of Parliament. As per the Lok Sabha Secretariat estimates, every minute of the session costs the exchequer Rs 23.08.
Churchill once had said that Parliamentary debates are life-enhancing literature. It unfortunately does not apply to our country. In 2007, the Rajya Sabha passed 32 per cent. of bills (not including financial bills) with little or no discussion. The percentage of bills passed with almost no discussion in the Rajya Sabha increased from 26 per cent. in 2005 to 32 per cent. in 2007. During the same period, the number of bills on which substantial debate (more than two hours) took place reduced from 29 per cent. in 2005 to 24 per cent. in 2007. Out of 485 (non-minister) Lok Sabha MPs, 107 spoke on some legislative issues in 2007. Of these, 89 MPs spoke three times or less, 12 MPs spoke about four to seven times, and six MPs spoke eight times or more in 2007. Our Lok Sabha on 23 rd December, 2008 passed a total eight Bills without a debate in 17 minutes.
The Vice President of India addressing the 14th All India Whips' Conference said, “The single most important issue of concern today is the decreasing credibility of our legislatures as effective institutions capable of delivering public good and contributing to effective formulation of laws and public policies…” The instrumentalities at the disposal of the legislatures, he said, had either been blunted or had become dysfunctional.
Rulers and kings of the past, who were in position of power, by their divine rights of hereditary, have been replaced by the elected representatives in local bodies, State Assemblies and the Parliament. In our Parliamentary Democracy, it is from amongst them, that our rulers are selected and it is they who pass laws, which lay down as to how our country will be governed.
After a person is elected to an office, he stays till his term is over. There is no way you can bind him or her, to the promise of good governance and serving the cause of the poor and downtrodden. Ruling a Nation is a serious business. It is literally all work and no play. But it appears, that any pretext is good enough to stall the Parliamentary or Assembly proceedings and to bring the work to stand still. In this scenario, there can be no vigilance or oversight on the government work. Consequently, the accountability, to that extent, gets either ruined or wrecked and finally becomes non-existent.
Our elected leaders must become mindful of what they are doing and why. Technically, people are responsible for improving them. But in reality, beyond pleading or media reminding them of their responsibility, there is nothing else anybody can do to persuade them to be heedful of public interest. This kind of approach is nothing short of frivolity, which takes from the concentration its strength, from thought its originality, from feeling its earnestness. For this reason, the first causality is governance. The presiding officers of the legislatures have lamented and expressed anguish on this state of affair. The only solution is that the political parties should arrive at a consensus of not disrupting the working of the House. Like many other Nations, the legislators can wear black bands or show their resentment at any earmarked place outside the House, like the Hyde Park in London . The leaders and our representatives should remember that a good example is the best sermon. They should remember not to mistake and confuse the slogans with the solutions.