Don146;t lose faith

The fate of the recently concluded Budget session of the newly elected parliament should make us all sit up and take a hard look at what has...

The fate of the recently concluded Budget session of the newly elected parliament should make us all sit up and take a hard look at what has become of our sacred institution. Parliament is the very heartbeat and the lifeblood of India8217;s democratic system. Our parliamentary system was a gift of the freedom movement and its achievement was one of the prime goals of that long struggle for democracy. Our founding fathers strongly believed and rightly so that the parliamentary system was the best and purest manifestation of the twin principles of 8216;representativity8217; and 8216;responsibility8217;. It was also in their view highly suited to the Indian reality, marked as it is by complexity, diversity and a pluralistic and quasi-federal social order.

It must be understood that the parliamentary system has been a huge success in India, the aberrations of the recent past notwithstanding. It is thus extremely important that whatever the disasters of this session, we do not lose faith in our parliamentary democracy because therein is the slippery slope towards authoritarianism. In the early years, under the stalwarts of the freedom movement, the parliamentary system imparted stability and operationalised the goal of unity in diversity. It achieved the highest standards of excellence and our parliamentary debates showed a high degree of skill and a strict adherence to the conventions, practices and usages which had developed over decades. This was possible because every section of the House which included stalwarts from the opposition benches formed part of a broad national concensus known as the Nehruvian consensus.

The decline in India8217;s parliamentary system, started in the 1970s when smaller parties in the opposition who had been defeated at the hustings sought to convert parliament into the battleground for party warfare. These parties, including the BJP former Jana Sangh as well the socialist parties disrupted parliament, denigrated the office of the prime minister and the institutions of the cabinet. In an effort to denigrate the then Congress Prime Minister, they in fact ended up denigrating the very office of the prime minister, the institutions of the cabinet and of parliament.

The ascendancy of the BJP and the rise of casteist politics, euphemistically called 8216;identity politics8217; brought further dishonour to parliament. These parties conducted themselves in a manner which reflected a lack of faith in the very metaphysics of the cabinet system and constitutional cuture. Their actions has the unfortunate effect of deligitimising the very principles of representativity.

The BJP has unfortunately has not only sought to change the grammar of politics and the means of democratic mobiisation but has done the tremendous harm by putting unprecedented pressure on the automony of the Indian state itself. The manner in which it has sought to subordinate the constitutional and juridical processes to the achievement of mere partisan ends and used the institutions of democracy to advance its semi-authoritarian agenda has created a full fledged crisis of legitimacy and credibility of India8217;s political system, parliament being the worst victim.

A member of parliament once elected has three capacities: 1 He represents his party, 2 his constituency and 3 he becomes a part of the nation8217;s summit representative body. Parliament has its own institutional autonomy; it legislates, it deliberates and most importantly, holds the government accountable to itself. Parliament stands for the voter. It exists to serve and protect her. It is supposed to be the exemplar of the democratic society, where caste, creed, religion, gender et al are all subordinate to that other transcendental title: 8216;citizen8217;.

Unfortunately, all these are things of the past. The post Lok Sabha coduct of the BJP has been mind-boggling. As a result India8217;s parliamentarism has reached an abysmal new low. From Day One, the BJP has through its actions sought to rubbish the mandate of 2004 and delegitimise the newly elected Lok Sabha. The manner in which it prevented the PM from introducing his cabinet colleagues,its boycott of parliamentary committees and its smear campaign against the Budget without participating in the deliberations has brought the entire political class into disrepute. The purpose of participating in a debate is to influence the outcome and if need be to contribute towards making policies more responsive to the peoples8217; needs. But all the BJP seems to want to do is boycott the process of debate on the one hand and on the other 8216;8216;privately8217;8217; meet the PM to, as the saying goes, 8216;8216;impose their say to prevent the government from having its way.8217;8217;

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The BJP has launched a full-fledged assault on the very foundations of a representative parliamentary government which cannot but deepen the crisis of legitimacy and credibility of the political system in the public eye. The disrespect shown to Dr Manmohan Singh is truly apalling. Particularly regrettable are the rather tentative comments of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpaee, comments which reflect a clear lack of application of mind.

A way must be found to prevent any further drift. The Speaker, one of the abler Speakers that this country has had, is very sincerely trying to bring the Opposition and the Government together to enforce a code of conduct and ethics to which parliament is already committed through its own regulations. I have always been opposed to the so called 8216;active Presidency8217;. But I honestly think that an unconventional situation warrants an unconventional response. The President might well consider informally interacting with the leaders with a view to extracting a firm commitment from them to ensure that parliament continues to be the jewel of our political system. Through his sage advice, the President might impart greater sanity into parliamentary proceedings.I have infinite faith in the genius of Indian people and the vibrancy of our democratic institutions. The events of this recent session cannot but be an aberration. But we are at a critical stage where imparting legitimacy to parliament is critical to the advancement of our democratic destiny. Cynicism is easy. But we cannot, indeed we will not, lose faith.

The writer is former Congress MP and senior Supreme Court lawyer