Debate interrupted

Surely there8217;s an unhappy message buried in the proximity of these two events: the adjournment of both Houses of Parliament sine die, t...

Surely there8217;s an unhappy message buried in the proximity of these two events: the adjournment of both Houses of Parliament sine die, three days ahead of schedule, comes in the week in which the country celebrates its Independence Day. Parliament is the most visible marker of the health of our democracy, it is home to its best practices and its highest ideals. It has become, today, the most glaring symptom of its decline. Even the dramatic statistics the BJP spokesperson has trotted out on the occasion don8217;t tell the whole story 8212; the loss of 356 hours due to uproar and adjournments in the 13th Lok Sabha has wasted about Rs 100 crore of public money. Statistics sanitise. The sounds of silence that echo under the domed roof after the monsoon session died a premature death speak more eloquently than cold figures ever could.

The unnatural quiet in Parliament speaks of an old breakdown. Ostensibly, it has proved impossible to conduct business in the House this session 8212; except in the most minimal way 8212; because of the uproar over the petrol pump scam. The irony is, the scam wasn8217;t discussed in either House, not in any meaningful manner, not even once. In the name of the scam, the Opposition staged repeated walkouts while the party in the dock quickly went on the offensive. It became the latest excuse for both sides to reenact an older script of unbridgeable antagonisms leading to unrelenting adjournments. The Budget session earlier this year had witnessed similar scenes over the Gujarat riots, the winter session before that was disrupted over Pota. Each and every one of those issues is a crucial one. But parliamentarians on all sides of the ideological divide have used them only as another provocation to scuttle dialogue by bringing Parliament to a grinding halt.

All sides are culpable here. The Opposition, which thinks that it is not possible to be truly oppositional on any issue without creating 8216;pandemonium8217; in Parliament. The treasury benches that instantly close ranks and take intransigent positions, when they don8217;t begin throwing mud all around, hoping it will stick to the opposition as well 8212; it inevitably does. Perhaps it is unfair to expect a newly anointed speaker to tackle these frozen positions. Yet, it is impossible not to wonder also whether Manohar Joshi threw in the towel too early. The chilling silence in Parliament calls for a shared introspection.