13 And Done

That was not the only tragic event in the life of the 13th Lok Sabha. For the first time in parliamentary history, the presiding officers of both Houses died in harness. The speaker of the Lower House, G.M.C. Balayogi, was killed in an aircrash. Krishna Kant, chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the vice-president, too passed away while still in office.

BUT on balance, things were far from bleak. From a political point of view, the 13th Lok Sabha will be remembered as a living manifestation of India8217;s successful transition to the era of coalition politics. It was the first Lok Sabha where no single party had an absolute majority and yet a coalition government managed to complete a full term.

The ruling coalition was a motley group of 24 parties. The Opposition was equally a patchwork with close to two dozen political outfits attempting 8216;8216;floor coordination8217;8217;.

Yet, for all the diversity of political views that such a large number of parties seeks to represent, there were few fireworks in the outgoing Lok Sabha compared to several previous ones.

The eighth Lok Sabha, for instance, saw a sustained attack by the combined opposition against the Rajiv Gandhi government for two years, before it was finally dissolved in 1989. The Congress had a brute majority of well over 400 seats but still could not weather the Bofors storm.

The 10th Lok Sabha, like the 13th, also lasted a full term but P.V. Narasimha Rao had a far rougher ride. Although he managed to win the no-confidence motion against his government in 1993, the JMM bribery scandal left an indelible stain on the rest of his tenure.

As for the Lok Sabhas that met in between 8212; the ninth, 11th, and 12th 8212; they were dissolved before completing even half their term. The tumultuous sessions of that period reflected the birth pangs of a coalition era that emerged, kicking and screaming, from the debris of single party dominance.

IN that sense, the 13th Lok Sabha has been historic. Sure, the opposition created 8216;8216;pandemonium8217;8217; over the numerous 8216;8216;scams8217;8217; 8212; UTI, coffingate, stock market, Tehelka 8212; but there was none of that sustained acrimony or the fire-in-the-belly attacks witnessed from the late 1980s to the late 1990s.

Atal Behari Vajpayee is usually given the entire credit for running a successful coalition, but that MPs across the range also gave his government a relatively easy time 8212; the government faced only one no-confidence motion and that too nearing the end of its term 8212; shows the coalition era has come to stay.

After years of fractious politics over Mandal and Mandir, the political class as a whole seems to want stability. Call that opportunism or maturity, but the 13th Lok Sabha was certainly a watershed in India8217;s ongoing engagement of parliamentary democracy.

The one worrying aspect, though, is the gradual devaluation of the Lok Sabha by both major political parties. Winning a Lok Sabha seat is tough, nursing the constituency tougher still.

Increasingly, therefore, ambitious politicians prefer the Rajya Sabha route. Be it Arun Jaitley or Ahmad Patel, Sushma Swaraj or Ambika Soni, Pramod Mahajan or Pranab Mukherjee, the 8216;8216;brains trust8217;8217; of political parties is deserting the Lok Sabha. That, in the long run, is a cause for worry.

Last look at House no. 13

14 Number of sessions of the 13th Lok Sabha, from October 20, 1999 beginning of first session to February 5, 2004 conclusion of 14th, comprising 356 actual days of sitting over 1,944 hours and eight minutes.

305 Number of bills passed by the Lok Sabha, including 14 Constitution Amendment Bills.

10 Number of members who resigned from this Lok Sabha. First to do so was Naveen Patnaik, who quit to become chief minister of Orissa. Seven others including Tarun Gogoi, Mayawati, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Uma Bharati followed him, leaving the Lower House for a chief ministry.

Madan Lal Khurana left for Jaipur8217;s Raj Bhawan. Only Vijay Sankeshwar BJP; Dharwad North, Karnataka resigned for apparently nothing at all.

20 Number of members who died in harness at it were. They range from the well-known to the unknown, Indrajit Gupta CPI; Midnapore, West Bengal to Bhan Singh Bhaura also CPI; Bathinda, Punjab. From veterans Geeta Mukherjee and Jitendra Prasad to speaker G.M.C. Balayogi, from Congress hopes Madhavrao Scindia and Rajesh Pilot to assassinated former bandit Phoolan Devi, from ministers P.R. Kumaranagalam to Murosali Maran.

7Number of constituencies without representatives at the time of dissolution. The vacant seats: Bathinda Punjab, Davangere and Dhardwad North both Karnataka, Chennai Central Tamil Nadu, Bhopal Madhya Pradesh, Jhalawar Rajasthan, Delhi Sadar.

193 Number of first-time members in the 13th Lok Sabha. They range from Sonia Gandhi Congress; Amethi to Raj Babbar SP; Agra, from Magaret Alva Kanara; Karnataka to Kirti Azad BJP; Darbhanaga, Bihar, from Manohar Joshi Shiv Sena; Mumbai North Central, Maharashtra to Nitish Sengupta Trinamool; West Bengal

Finest hour
December 13, 2001, when Parliament was attacked by Islamist terrorists. As Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was to later say, the leader of the opposition, Sonia Gandhi, was the first to call him and ask if he was safe. Terrorists could wipe out a lot 8212; but not the institutional strength of Indian democracy.

Funniest hour
April 8, 2003, when the Lok Sabha passed a unanimous resolution demanding the war in Iraq be stopped and US troops withdraw immediately. This when the Allies were at the gates of Baghdad. To complete the comic drama, there was protracted semantic debate, with the word 8216;8216;ninda8217;8217; deplore eventually getting into the resolution8217;s Hindi version.

Historic moment
March 26, 2002, when the 13th Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha met in a joint sitting of the two Houses, only the third such in Indian history. The occasion was the vote on the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, that eventually became the law POTA. The NDA didn8217;t have the numbers in the Rajya Sabha and called a joint session to push through the legislation.

Family sabha
Madhavrao Scindia Congress; Guna died in a plane crash in 2001. His son Jyotiraditya won the byelection from Guna. In 2003, Madhavrao8217;s sister, Vasundhara BJP; Jhalawar resigned from the House on becoming chief minister of Rajasthan.

Incidentally, when Rajesh Pilot Congress; Dausa died in a car accident, his wife Rama won the byelection from the constituency.

Best Laws, Worst Misses

5 BILLS THAT THE 13TH LOK SABHA PASSED TO PUSH ECONOMIC REFORMS

8226; The Electricity Amendment Bill, 2003. It opened doors to private players in generation and distribution.

8226; The Prevention of Money Laundering BIll, 2002. It replaced draconian FERA with softer FEMA.

8226; The Telecom Regulatory Authority Bill, 2000. It set up the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal TDSAT, over and above the TRAI set up in 1997.

8226; The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority Bill, 1999. Set up a regulatory authority as part of ending state monopol in insurance.

8226; Airports Authority of India Amendment Bill, 2003. It facilitated the development of greenfield airports in Bangalore and Hyderabad and entry of private players in other international airports.

6 REFORMIST SOCIAL SECTOR BILLS THE HOUSE APPROVED

8226; The Constitution Eighty-sixth Amendment Bill, 2000. It made right to education a fundamental right for children between six and 14.

8226; The National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Bill, 1999.

8226; The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Regulation and Prevention of Misuse Amendment Bill, 2001. It sought to curb female infanticide.

8226; The Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Bill, 2000.

8226; The Consumer Protection Amendment Bill, 2002.

8226; The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Prohibition of Advertisement and regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution Bill, 2003.

2 BILLS TO CLEAN UP THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM

8226; The Representation of the People Second Amendment Bill, 2003. It put an end to defections for ministerial jobs and reduced the size of a ministry to 15 per cent of the strength of the legislature.

8226; The 2003 bill to facilitate proxy voting and allow soldiers to exercise their franchise.

Missing in action
Important bills the 13th House didn8217;t pass

8226; The Women8217;s Reservation Bill. First introduced in 1996, it was listed on the agenda several times in the 13th Lok Sabha but never debated or put to vote.

8226; The Lok Pal Bill. The anti-corruption legislation that aims at bringing even the office of the prime minister under scrutiny of the Lok Pal remained at the 8216;8216;introductory stage8217;8217;.

Backbench strength

As the cream of the BJP ended up with ministerial portfolios, three backbenchers battled valiantly for the party

Kharabela Swain
Anadi Charan Sahu
and Kirit Somaiyya

And in the Opposition, some little-known MPs shone, with wit, grasp of parliamentary procedure or simply perseverance

Raghuvansh Prasad Singh RJD
V. Saroja AIADMK
Varkala Radhakrishnan CPI-M
Akhilesh Singh SP
Ramji Lal Suman SP
Bal Krishna BSP