The Undemocratic Politics of Disruptions

As the monsoon session of Parliament comes to a close, a raging sense of democratic paralysis engulfs our democratic polity. The Parliament of India is a supreme body as a deliberative forum which represents the issues and concerns of the people of India at the apex level. This understanding of our legislature is put under a dark shadow when one views the recent washout of the monsoon session of Parliament. 

The current monsoon session was stalled due to the Opposition’s strategy to pressurise the government over the coalblocks allocation issue. However, this was not the first time that such pressure tactic was used to address the problems of the nation. It was also used during the winter session in 2010 in the 2G spectrum telecom case. A uniform perspective appears before us via the visuals presented to the common man through televisioning of the debates of the House—the sense of chaos, anarchy and non-functioning.

It goes without saying that those responsible for misusing the echelons of power should be brought to book. The nation needs transparency in governance and that can come when corruption is dealt with as a systemic problem. Power without due responsibility and respect for the national resources and their use in nation-building needs to be criticised and put to a stop in no uncertain terms.
A similar issue of accountability to the people in the management of national natural assets came up before Parliament in the coalblocks case. What needs to be understood is that problems that concern auction of natural resources, audit of accounts later on, policy-decision of the executive, amongst others, have various parties involved at different foras of policy implementation. To reduce the entire solution of the problem at hand to a single-point panacea of disregard towards working of Parliament, does no good for the polity.

The government of the day alone cannot be a single factor to let the House run. The working of democracy also requires a responsible Opposition. The entire drill of every day members slogan-shouting, papers being laid on the table, bills passed without due deliberation puts a big question-mark on the credibility of the Opposition that under the guise of one issue, several other problems facing the country have been put on the backburner.

In this gambit, an utter indifference for the tenets of democracy is perceived. A session of Parliament is conducted on the basis of the tax-payers’ money where not letting the public institution function puts down the drain the hard-earned revenue of the state exchequer. There are many problems before our nation ranging from internal security to food inflation. Proscri-bing the work of the House is a short-term measure. These issues, if dealt properly via due discussion, argument and consideration on the floor of the House, can spell benefits in the days ahead, than creating disorders and disturbances for the House to work. These also distract the public collectively in apathy and disregard for the tenacity of our democracy to be able to deliver.

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To blame the government for every problem that surfaces is an easy task. The need of the hour is to move beyond this traditional approach where the Opposition must engage in construc-tive criticism. India recently celebrated its 60th year of parliamentary democracy, yet we still miss out on the fact that democracy is a two-way affair—it needs consent and dissent both where a representative government has to co-exist with an Opposition. Our political dialogue is yet to witness the aspect of a mature Opposition which forces the nation to engage itself in a democratic exercise where participation and deliberation are the defining ethos. Sheer resort to holding the House to ransom makes a mockery of our representative institutions. It takes away the very basis of democracy—need for informa-tion and debate. Mere recourse to sound bytes and press conferences later on shakes the faith of the common man for whom the democracy is said to exist in real terms.

Elections in India are a colossal affair. With every issue the Opposition creates a fear psychosis of an approaching mid-term poll; this cuts through the confidence that the masses repose on their leaders. It undermines the visions of our founding fathers that stability in face of diversity is the benefit rendered by parliamentary democracy. The nation is vigilant to distinguish between and decipher the battles that need to be fought during elections, but reducing every issue to not let the House work in face of unrelenting opposition smacks of a greedy ploy to seize power.

It is high time that our Opposition and all other political parties resolutely resolve this delinquent situation by setting new standards and yardsticks of work over mechanisms to make the exercise of dealing with issues that surface during the process of governance by public representatives by strengthening the institution of Parliament. It shall articulate every player as a proficient participant in the democratic scheme when they face the masses for the battle of ballot.

Dr Amna Mirza is a Ph.D in Political Science, University of Delhi.