New Delhi, May 9 (Inditop.com) Dissent is integral to democracy, maintain opposition MPs to justify the frequent disruptions of parliament during the just-concluded budget session that led to crucial legislative business being affected. However, some in the ruling Congress suggest a way out could be to curtail live television coverage as opposition MPs wanted to “play to the gallery”.
The frequent disruptions invited adverse comments from the presiding officers of the two houses and there is little to suggest that the trend would not continue in the monsoon session.
“Given a choice, no political party would want to disrupt proceedings of the house. But much depends on the attitude of the government. The government allows many contentious issues to remain afloat,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy told IANS.
Citing instances, he said the government’s “silence” on remarks of Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar against BJP leader Arun Jaitley had led to disruption of the Rajya Sabha on several ocassions. He said the government had also been sidelining the opposition demand for resignation of Telecom Minister A. Raja.
“There were no candid replies from the government,” Rudy alleged.
He said there were “no quick-fix solutions” to the issue of frequent disruptions and the ruling party has to take a lead in the matter.
“Multi-polarity” in the political system was also a reason for the frequent chaos, he suggested.
“Multi-polarity results in conflicts too,” he said, adding that disruptions would be curtailed if the politics in the country becomes bi-polar.
Communist Party of India leader D. Raja said that political parties lodge protests in parliament not with the intention of disrupting the proceedings. “It is not disruption. The intention is to express protest. You should see it from the party’s perspective,” he said.
The Left leader said political parties want to make a point in parliament and dissent was essential to democracy. “The democracy gives room for dissent. It is a right.”
The CPI leader said that Left parties have been demanding that parliament should meet for at least 100 days in a year but that demand has not been accepted.
The government had the onus to run the house properly by trying to forge consensus on vital issues, he said. “In an age of coalition, it has to make an extra effort to forge consensus.”
The Congress said that disruptions were not a healthy sign for democracy as it led to wastage of time.
“A few disruptions, if needed, are okay but frequent adjournments lead to waste of time and jeopardises important issues,” party leader Shakeel Ahmed said.
He said it was wrong to blame the government for the disruptions as many times the ministers were prevented from conveying their points of view.
He said MPs should also be sensitive to matters that can cause dissension and not raise issues which fall in the domain of states.
A Congress leader, not wishing to be identified as he did not wish to be seen as speaking out of turn, said the problem can be curtailed if live coverage of proceedings on television is stopped. “Leaders at times, want to play to the gallery and their constitutency,” he said, saying constituents often get impressed by their representatives being in the parliamentary limelight, though more often than not for the wrong reasons.
The media plays up the disruptions but also does not report the serious debates when they take place, he regretted.
According to PRS Legislative Research, an independent think-tank that tracks functioning of parliament, the two houses lost more than 117 hours or over 30 percent of the total scheduled 385 hours during the budget session due to frequent disruptions and protests.
Both Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar expressed dismay at the disruptions in their valedictory remarks at the conclusion of the session.
Ansari said the disruptions in the conduct of business had invited adverse comments and lowered the image of the legislature in the eyes of the public.
Meira Kumar said a sense was growing in the country that members of parliament prefer to highlight public issues by disrupting the house and not through discussions and debates.
Only 15 bills, nine of which related to financial business, were passed in the budget session of parliament which had 32 sittings. The two houses saw disruptions on a range of issues including price rise, the women’s reservation bill, the Indian Premier League controversy, the telephone tapping allegations and the demand minister D. Raja’s resignation over wrongdoing in the allocation of 2G spectrum.
The budget session began Feb 22 and ended May 7 with a near month-long recess in between.
