Parliament and Pandemonium

Parliament and pandemonium are inseparable. Noises and adjournments are common in the highest of Indian public representatives. What was unseen and unheard till yesterday – Speaker wishing all the MPs to lose in the upcoming parliamentary elections. He has been pushed to the periphery of frustration.

Somnath Chatterjee, known for his "headmasterly" approach as Lok Sabha Speaker, was at his harshest best on Thursday, telling a section of MPs that they did not deserve a "single paisa" of public money and that he wished they were defeated in the coming elections
Chatterjee's outburst came as question hour was plunged into chaos by vociferous MPs across party lines demanding a hearing on diverse issues. Failing to persuade them to relent, he cursed, "I hope that all of you are defeated in the election. All of you should be defeated in the election... I hope you are identified by people." He had to adjourn the question hour moments later. Later in the session, he threw up his hands, saying Parliament should be adjourned sine die to save people's money. "You do not deserve one paisa out of public money." While disruption of proceedings has been the flashpoint between the Chair and the MPs during the entire 14th Lok Sabha, often leading to unprecedented barbs and some real pearls from an angry Chatterjee, Thursday's drama appeared to have breached his known tolerance threshold, crucially when the Lok Sabha is meeting for one last time and the 10-term MP from West Bengal would be quitting politics for good. On Thursday, MPs were more keen to make political points with their constituencies ahead of polls -- BSP on the SC/ST reservation Bill, Dravidian outfits on the Tamil issue, TDP on the Satyam scam against Andhra Pradesh government. As they did not heed the Speaker, Chatterjee appeared to have used the "pox on you" rebuke to try scaring the usually superstitious tribe into retreat. "I hope the people will give their verdict properly. You have to be taught a lesson." But, all to no avail. Over around five years as arbiter, the Speaker's admonition of disrupting MPs has been quite a sight, training the observers' focus more sharply on wastage of time due to adjournments and unapproved interventions. The political parties have not really agreed to the Speaker's wishes that rules be respected and that the question hour be spared, but Chatterjee has waged a relentless battle to impose discipline. Though popular as an MP, Chatterjee has evoked strong emotions from different corners in the House after occupying the Chair. The lowest point in Chair-MP skirmishes came in August 2005 when Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee flung papers at him, accusing him of being biased against the opposition. The BJP and NDA also charged him with bias on various occasions. The Left MPs who had supported him during his confrontation with BJP, turned the `bias' charge back on him after he defied the leadership diktat to oppose the nuclear deal. The defiance, however, have not stopped Chatterjee from venting his frustration, right from his unprecedented remark: "I am ashamed to be sitting here as the Speaker." Since then, he has admonished rowdy MPs with observations like "bring a no-confidence motion against me if you want" while he has dotted his moments of anger with a resigned "the chair has lost its prestige" remark. On Thursday, Chatterjee said, "You are insulting the people of this country. You are not helping your cause... You are burying democracy in this country. You have already done it. Nobody bothers," before he signed off, "I express my greatest condemnation... of your conduct. You have taken the people for a ride and you are insulting the people of this country by your abominable behaviour."


Enough is enough
Time lost lowing to interruptions in the Lok Sabha
Session Actual Time lost Time lost
Sitting because of interruption as % of actual time of sitting
(hr:min) (hr:min)
I 13.41 10.32 77%
II 92.29 47.16 51%
III 103.21 06.41 6%
1V 212.22 37.99 18%
V 158.48 10.21 7%
VI 118.49 27.33 23%
VII 194.55 35.42 18%
VIII 124.04 70.13 55%
IX 117.13 25.34 22%
X 127.04 70.13 55%
XI 64.24 42.07 65%
XII 91.07 20.36 23%
XIII 162.09 28.30 18%
XIV 96.15 15.13 16%

Times of India, 20.2.2009, p.19

This downslide of parliamentary output is disturbing to the public welfare watchers. The parliamentarians should understand their status and power before indulging in disturbing the work of the House. With such a casual approach to the governance through inadequate debates sounds death bell to the parliamentary culture.

Fish Marketing in Parliament

Often I wonder at the Indian parliamentary sessions, “Is this the parliament or fish market?” There is complete pandemonium and unparliamentarily words used. Both treasury and opposition members bother not to attend the session when they are not speaking. This is common cutting across the parties. Most of the members do not know the bills tabled for discussion. Their situation is reduced to the level of ordinary man on the street. Those who watch the proceedings in the parliament pity the status of MPs. When there is no time to discuss the important issues and constituency matters, speaker gets nervous. In that time of cold-feet there are too many changes in the chairperson of the house. Speaker slips away when the situation goes out of his control or he gets bored of the session. The speaker invites deputy speaker who after few minutes passes the chair to another. It goes on and on.

The Times of India (24.12.2008, p.1) reports that the parliament had met for only 32 days this year and the expectation that it should meet for a minimum of 100 days was not going to be fulfilled by a long margin. In the past, Lok Sabha had met for as many as 151 days in 1956 but just 98 and 109 days in the 1976 and 1985, respectively. In 1999, it had met for 51 days.

Eight bills were passed in a matter of 17 minutes. The speaker passes by saying that the ayes ayes have it without taking a look at the house. It has become customary for the speaker to push the bill and get out of the house for the day. The speaker’s job has become a nursery school teacher. Like stick in hand and regular shouting at the children in class, speaker exhausts all his energy in the parliament. At least in the school, children learn something positive and go home. In parliament there is no improvement.

In the last session of the parliament, the critical South Asian University Bill was passed without any debate. Similarly the criminal procedure code amendment and Lakshadweep election contestants’ bill were introduced and passed in the same speed.

The reasons for this gloomy parliamentary culture are many. First it is the overall social culture which is reflected in the parliament. There is an increase in intolerance. Very people can lend their ears more than open their mouths. Result of this no tolerance culture is seen in the parliament also. It can be connected to the high riding consumer economy. Second, those who were elected to the parliament were not trained adequately. Due to this untrained people even seasoned parliamentarians are changing their nature. It was uncommon to see long serving parliamentarians going for physical tit for tat in the past. But today there is an unequal matching of disruption of the parliament by showing their physical and shouting prowess. Three, criminalization of the public sphere and politics has casted the parliament in a wrong shadow. According to the Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore, 23.2% of those elected to parliament are criminals. They carry serious charges like murder, extortion, rape and abductions.

One cannot change the parliament without changing the society. In the past Parliament contributed to the positive changes in the society. That was when the constructively thinking parliamentarians and tolerant human beings were inside the house. This is the instant result expecting generation. Not only they need immediate gains but the new culture is wrongly influencing the disciplined people. Principle is dead; any means mobility is thriving. In this situation a long term social surgery is needed. It is an egg comes first or chicken comes first situation. The right track moving socio-political leaders should introspect and act at the earliest to save the August institution.