Opinion Blacked out

Passing Telangana bill in the dark is anti-democratic. Lok Sabha speaker has a lot to answer for.

February 19, 2014 12:16 AM IST First published on: Feb 19, 2014 at 12:12 AM IST

Passing Telangana bill in the dark is anti-democratic. Lok Sabha speaker has a lot to answer for.

Nearly five years after it was abruptly promised, the manner of the passing of the Telangana bill in the Lok Sabha has posed a disconcerting question mark over the functioning of Parliament. Apparently wary of violent disruption by partisans of a united Andhra Pradesh, the speaker directed that the live cameras that beam out the House’s proceedings be switched off. In the process, she shut off people’s access to the conduct of their representatives during the passing of a highly consequential bill. It was eventually passed with scores of amendments, by a voice vote. Though the cameras have been switched off earlier amid unruly scenes in the House, there has been no instance, since they were introduced, of an entire bill being passed by closing off the proceedings to the public.

The bill to split Andhra Pradesh was always going to be difficult to negotiate on the floor of the House. For that, a large part of the blame must be owned by the leadership of the Congress party. At every step, it has demonstrated poor judgement and worse leadership. Instead of building a consensus from the ground up, dividing resources fairly and openly, and investing political skill and labour in negotiating an acceptable division, the party leadership overrode dissent and ignored legislative norms. Not surprisingly, therefore, on its way to Parliament, the Telangana bill has been intensely resisted in Seemandhra, and the Andhra Pradesh assembly has squarely rejected it.

Also, given that the number of Telangana legislators is lower than the number of those from Seemandhra, whose careers and constituencies are at stake, there have been ignominious scenes in the House, including last week’s pepper spray scuffle. But no matter what her assessment or apprehension of the possibility of disruption and uproar during the passage of the bill, the speaker’s decision to switch off the live broadcast of parliamentary proceedings was a peremptory violation of the democratic norm of openness. Even though the requisite numbers were finally summoned in favour of the contentious bill, her decision will now loom over its passage as a worrisome precedent.

Live telecast of legislative business has been an established custom for years. It began in a limited way in 1989, then became a 24-hour affair after Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha channels were set up in 2006. These broadcasts are a vital tool of transparency that make the institution less remote and allow citizens to keep a watch on their representatives. On Tuesday, that compact between Parliament and the people was violated in an arbitrary manner.