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| Parliamentarians of late have made a circus of the august house, focussing more on trivalities than the core business of the house | | The great Indian parliamentary circus | | Sunita Vakil | 2/20/2014 11:21:29 PM |
| For past several days, parliament has become merely a circus, except not nearly as fun. Last week's pandemonium in parliament, which saw the ruling party MPs resort to unprecedented behaviour and physically attack each other, was a disgrace to the country. Indeed, the events of Feb 13 must rank among the darkest days in parliament's history. More so because the behaviour of our so called honou-rable memmbers of parliament inside the house on the said day was deplorable. We have all witnessed how a Congress MP was busy engaged in detonating a can of pepper spray inside the house while another whipped out a weapon, later said to be a piece of microphone. Still another one had the gall to snatch a mike.
And all these acts were in the name of thwarting the Telangana Bill. India's so called oldest democracy has shown itself as a bunch of rambunctious political players with no clear discipline and direction. They have reduced parliament to a circus and play the roles of clowns, wanting the people to take them seriously. One is really pained to see the parliament, which is the sanctum sanctorum of our democracy, stalled session after session. Our MPs are turning parliament into a forum of settling political scores, while common man is losing faith in democracy. Shouting, disrupting speeches, adjournments and walkouts every now and then have become a norm in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. Legislators have hurled mikes and chairs at each other, overturned tables and even beaten each other upon the floor of the house.
It needs no reiteration that the purpose of parliamentary democracy is to provide a forum for reasoned deliberation.
It is the key arena where parties articulate their positions and engage in verbal debate. But aam admi who elects the members of parliament to look after his interests is aghast at the audacious manner in which these elected representatives are wrecking this plate form. For India's political parties, when in opposition, prefer disruption to debate.
Their dueling is often physical. The sad thing is that politicking has taken precedence over people's welfare.
This is seen clearly in the ongoing winter session of the 15th Lok Sabha where slogan shouting legislators are causing presumptive loss to the nation for short term political gains.
It is high time that severe disciplinary action is taken against erring parliamentarians. It is welcome that Speaker Meira Kumar has suspended 16 MPs for the ruckus. She should also follow it up with changes in parliament's security protocols.
The shameful episode merits a serious review of the security measures within the parliament as well as an overall reassesment of the code of conduct for legislators. It is ironic that on December 13, 2001, parliamentarians were attacked by terrorists but 13 years later, the perpetrators were so called guardians of democracy! Indeed, there is not much difference between an outlaw using chilli powder to rob someone and an MP using the same weapon to disrupt and stall the house proceedings.
After all, when the criminals are elected as our representatives, what more can we expect from them? Parliament has already witnessed the snatching of papers from the Speaker, tearing of Bills inside the house, breaking of microphones and damaging of furniture.
Now it has degenerated into pepper spraying and brandishing a weapon. A day is not far off when we will witness bombs being exploded in the temple of democracy.
After all what has happened there is a strong case for all MPs to be subjected to thorough physical checks. We all bristle our feathers when our tall leaders are frisked in foreign countries as a security requirement prevailing in those countries.
Wth the smuggling of such a repellant spray into parliament by none other than an MP, we have now lost the moral right to question foreign countries subjecting Indian citizens including our leaders to intensive security checks.
However, there is certainly a case for the parliamentarians to be mature and sensible enough to use the august forum to which they have been elected for debating the burning issues facing the nation.
Disruption will defeat its very purpose.
Also cross politicking should not prevail over aam aadmi's welfare. Disagreement with the government on any issue is now used as an excuse to stall parliament endlessly.
While the government is to blame for not cosulting the opposition to build a consensus, opposition parties also seem to believe that it is their birth right to adopt obstructionist strategies if they don't agree with the government.
The deplorable episode speaks volumes about the inability of the PM and the Speaker to control and maintain discipline in the house.
The Speaker's role particularly cannot be ignored. It was her non neutral behaviour that allowed the passage of business that suited the UPA politically.
It is an irony to call our parliamentarians honorable when they exhibit the worst signs of street behaviour. It will be fair to pinpoint those individuals who created the mayhem and give them the punishment they deserve.
That said, there is a pressing need to deal with these acts strongly.
There must be no second thoughts about expulsions and even a jail term. The lack of exemplary punishment for unruly members has encouraged lawlessness in parliament.
Parliament must be used as a forum to develop the country and not to be treated like a circus. The nation cannot afford to sit and enjoy next round of Tamasha presented free of charge by our honorable parliamentarians.
The writer is a senior journalist and can be reached at: [email protected] |
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