AA Edit | To Serve Democracy, Parliament Must Work

The Winter Session of Parliament, to be held over 15 sessions from today to December 20, will present another opportunity for the Opposition to hold the government to account while ensuring that legislation is passed only after a thorough discussion on the Bills presented. If they stick to form and begin boycotting the proceedings, they would not only be spurning that opportunity but also playing into the government’s hand.

The pattern of Parliament sessions has been the same for a while now. After a promising pre-session all-party meeting at which homilies will be served up on the need for smooth conduct and open discussion on everything, the Opposition would begin withdrawing from the Houses soon as the first sticking point arises and come back again only towards the end to show that the session was fruitful and fulfilling.

Sticking points may arise again with the Opposition demand for an exhaustive discussion on the Election Commission’s SIR, likely to run into the government’s stand that it is the work of a constitutional body and that the matter is in the highest court, even as elections to Bihar have ended after the revision of the rolls.

If the government is sincere about its willingness to discuss anything that is of national interest, it should allow a debate even if the revision exercise goes on nationally as it has with the court interceding now and then on some of the modalities. There is no denying that the integrity of the poll rolls is integral to a level playing field of democracy.

Besides 13 Bills that are to be introduced during the session, there are issues like national security in the wake of the blast near the Red Fort in Delhi, the farmers’ plight in the wake of heavier than normal monsoon rains, the pollution gripping the national capital region and foreign policy in the background of the resetting of India-US ties that should be discussed by the people’s representatives.

In pre-deciding what should be debated instead of keeping an open mind on the need for legislators to speak out and failing to agree to even short-duration discussions, the government may be stonewalling. Unless there is a major change of heart and procedures on giving the Opposition sufficient time to make their point, it is the spirit of democracy that will be dented. And where else but in Parliament can the Opposition make its points on the state of the nation?

Due to the amount of time that Parliament was held up in the Monsoon Session by frequent disruptions, it rated as one of the lowest by way of productivity, with the Lok Sabha functioning only for 29 per cent of the time allotted and the Rajya Sabha 34 per cent. The Question Hour, considered one of the highlights of parliament, fared worse with 23 per cent and six per cent, respectively, in the two Houses of the time allotted being utilised meaningfully.

The issues holding up the last session were Operation Sindoor and SIR, which means that if the EC’s functioning comes in the way once again of a discussion on other important subjects, it would still be a waste of parliamentary time. In acting true to form with a stubborn government denying the time for free and frank debates and an equally unrelenting Opposition standing on formalities to disrupt the proceedings, there is a real danger that India will descend to being just an electoral democracy, if it isn’t already that.