The cynical might say that Tamil Nadu’s politics is often like this only. Local Administration Minister and DMK’s heir apparent M.K. Stalin raises a privilege issue in the assembly against J. Jayalalithaa for accusing him of plotting to kill her. The speaker promptly refers it to the privileges committee leading to noisy protests from AIADMK benches. Finally, all AIADMK MLAs are suspended for the rest of the session. So is this just another day in the fight between the AIADMK and DMK? It would be unwise to dismiss it as just that.When Stalin threatens to slap breach of privilege charges against a political rival and media organisations too — including an AIADMK organ in print and TV — there is more to the matter than some unseemly politics. There is irony, for one. Jayalalithaa, now at the receiving end, was on the offensive not long ago. It was in the AIADMK regime that the speaker took suo motu cognisance of alleged acts of breach of privilege by a national newspaper, setting the stage for an unhappy conflict between the privileges of the House and the right to freedom of speech and expression. Nor was the Hindu case the first time that journalists had been forced into confrontation with the legislature under an AIADMK government. But there is a larger debate here on the privileges of legislatures in India. These are not spelt out. There is no law yet made by Parliament or any state legislature relating to its own powers and privileges, even though the Constitution confers on them the power to do so. As a result, the privileges of the House are deemed to remain the same as those enjoyed by the British House of Commons at the commencement of the Indian Constitution. As a result, too, this becomes an area open to excessively restrictive interpretations by a legislative authority that takes itself more seriously than it should, or one that doesn’t respect other institutions enough.In times of opening up, it would be disorienting indeed if legislatures continue to hark back to archaic conceptions of their own image and power. Stalin hasprovided the cue. Let’s talk about how to define privilege in more spacious and relaxed ways.
