Vice President Dhankhar questions party whips: ‘MPs reduced to servility’

“Why should there be a whip? Whip means you are curtailing expression, you are curtailing freedom, you are subjecting your representative to servility. You don’t allow such a person to use his or her mind,” Dhankhar told a group of students at his residence.

In India, whips have varying degrees of importance. Rebelling against a three-line whip — deployed for the most important occasions — can put a lawmaker’s membership of the House at risk.

“Examine whether the US has whip or not, find out in the last ten years how decisions of the Senate have been influenced by persuasion. But when you issue a whip, there is no persuasion. To persuade whom? Political parties are supposed to promote democracy, but do the elected representatives have the freedom of expression? Whip comes in the way,” Dhankhar said.

In the US, as per a note published by PRS Legislative Research, “the party whip’s role is to gauge how many legislators are in support of a Bill and how many are opposed to it — and to the extent possible, persuade them to vote according to the party line on the issue”.

Dhankhar said access to the judiciary, a fundamental right, had been “weaponised” over the last few decades. “It is posing a great challenge to our governance, our democratic values,” he said.
The Vice President also said executive functions were being performed by bodies that had no jurisdiction or authority to do so. “Institutions are yielding ground to other institutions, and that is being done out of expediency. These placatory mechanisms may result in short-term gain, but they cause incalculable spinal damage in the long run,” he said.

Dhankhar said disruptions to Parliament have transformed it from a temple of democracy into a battleground. “Is there anything left to see? Anything left to hear? People have forgotten the word decorum and there is no concept of dignity anymore,” he said.