Winter in the House

Some would say the Winter Session was hobbled to begin with. After all, when Parliament reopened earlier this month, almost nobody8217;s at...

Some would say the Winter Session was hobbled to begin with. After all, when Parliament reopened earlier this month, almost nobody8217;s attention was focused on Parliament. Polling had just ended for a round of assembly elections that were regarded as very crucial, if not the proverbial semi-finals. Results were to come in a few days8217; time, another anniversary of the Babri Masjid8217;s demolition was round the corner, and who was bothered about Parliament anyway? After Verdict 2003, political watchers looked to Parliament but only to track the reverberations of the results in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi in the House. And then to monitor the fireworks on a scintillating list of scheduled face-offs between government and Opposition 8212; on the Judeo tapes, the BJP8217;s sting operation on Ajit Jogi, the CVC issue, Telgi stamp paper scam. In all this heat and din, if this short session 8212; only 16 sittings over only 22 days 8212; passes off without much of the more ordinary and less spectacular Business of the House getting done, is anyone really to blame?

The short answer is: yes. It is true that the election results have far reaching political significance and that both the Judeo videotape and the Jogi audiotape frame issues that must be deservedly discussed in Parliament. Truth is, corruption in public life is not just pervasive but is also never the subject of serious debate in a genuinely problem solving framework. But the trouble arises when these serious issues are manipulated in Parliament to entirely non-serious purposes: to merely force adjournments, for instance. The problem arises when stagemanaged passions first sabotage any possibility of a breakthrough on these issues and then abort the deliberations of the House on other urgent issues as well.

Honourable members of Parliament must certainly focus attention on the scandals and scams. But they will be failing in their duties if they do not ensure, at the same time, that this short session also takes up the long pending list of legislative business and the bristling list of new bills. In such a short session, there8217;s no time to waste. Finally, why are sessions so short anyway? Parliament must meet longer and more frequently to tackle its workload and for the public good.