“Democracy is not merely a form of Government… It is essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellow men.” — B R Ambedkar
In this winter session of Parliament, the Modi government suspended a total of 146 Members of Parliament merely for demanding a discussion on the Parliament security breach and the grave farmers-related issues. The latter include the recent trade restrictions imposed on staples such as wheat, rice, and sugar which have resulted in massive cuts in agricultural exports. The intention not to have any constructive debate was made clearer when a series of Orwellian bills were listed and passed at the fag end of the session with the bulk of the Opposition suspended. Each bill, like a persistent claw, tugs at the threads that hold this country together, slowly unravelling the delicate tapestry of our democracy.
Firstly, the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners Bill, 2023, trampling on the independence of the Election Commission, places it squarely under the thumb of the Union government. To control the selection process unilaterally, the Bill replaces the Chief Justice of India in the panel with a Union minister nominated by the Prime Minister, contradicting the directions of the Supreme Court. The Court directed that the panel consist of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India. This, along with the provision allowing recommendations even in the absence of a full committee, threatens to compromise the integrity of the Commission and its independence permanently, since two out of three members will belong to the ruling dispensation, making the selection process completely undemocratic. As former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa asserted in a recent essay in The Great Indian Manthan: State, Statecraft and the Republic, “It is only if public institutions function as they are meant to, conscientiously and sincerely, that citizens will have faith in them (and ultimately, the democratic process itself)”. The passage of this Bill is a clear message to India that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not respect the sanctity of any public institution. This is a grave threat to our parliamentary democracy.
Second, the government’s bold move of replacing the “colonial” criminal laws with ones that hold the magical promise of breathing fresh air into an overburdened legal setup, simplifying legal procedures, enhancing the common man’s ease of living and modernising laws, ring hollow when many sections are mere reproductions and reshuffles of their parent codes, albeit with more vague language. The real magic trick here is making us believe it’s a groundbreaking reformation when, in reality, it’s just a clever sleight of hand and a not-so-subtle attempt at creating a police state. It moves away from the principle of “bail as the rule, not an exception” by expanding the maximum limit of police custody from 15 days to 90 days (depending upon the nature of the offence), exposing the accused to police excesses and fabrication of evidence. It needlessly enforces handcuffing not only during arrest but also during production in court. It purposely uses vague definitions to expand the scope of the police powers at the hands of the political leadership; for instance, by criminalising the spreading of misleading information jeopardising the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. Additionally, optimistic timelines have been enforced on court proceedings without addressing the glaring deficit in judicial infrastructure, which needs to be dealt with, as acknowledged by the Ministry of Law and Justice in response to a parliamentary question.
Third is the Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023 which cuts into press freedoms under the umbrella of public safety. It is a tool to stifle dissent as it mandates prior consent of the BJP government for the reproduction of foreign publications and prohibits those convicted (possibly wrongly too and pending appeal) of “terrorist acts” or “unlawful activities” from publishing periodicals. The government also has the power to refuse publishing rights on the grounds of public safety and enter news organisations’ buildings which is unduly invasive. The desperation for enforcing excessive control reeks of authoritarianism, and that is why despite having the strength to bulldoze the passage of any bill, they did not want any opposition to even be articulated.
In the last few years, so many of our fundamental rights have been attacked that the Telecommunication Bill, 2023 probably doesn’t come as a surprise. Perfectly crafted for a licence raj, this bill mandates licences for any digital entity transmitting messages, spanning a broad spectrum from images to videos. The legislation grants the government sweeping powers to seize or suspend telecom services under the guise of “public safety”, a term ripe for subjective interpretation. In the era of the big brother state, the Bill further restricts fundamental rights like freedom of speech, expression, and privacy in various ways like instituting compulsory biometric verification for social media users and mandatory registration of journalists across telecommunication services. Welcome to “New India”.
The suspension of MPs, including myself, for demanding a discussion on the security breach and the arbitrary suspension of our colleagues while the MP on whose pass the disruptors had come faces no repercussions, is the final nail in the coffin of the ongoing normalisation of an antidemocratic sentiment by the BJP government, session after session. The wipeout of the Opposition from Parliament and the hasty passage of Orwellian bills will be a dark chapter in Indian history for time immemorial. All this, when unemployment is at a historic high, consumption expenditure is at a historic low, when businesspersons are migrating out in droves and the unhappiness of the common man goes unheard for years.
India faces unprecedented social, economic and geopolitical problems today, and we urgently need Parliament to debate and redress them. And we in INDIA genuinely do want to help the government in taking India to new heights. So, every time the BJP government throttles Parliament and parliamentarians, it damages national interest. As India’s former Vice President Hamid Ansari says (also in Penguin’s The Great Indian Manthan), “a dormant Parliament could become the first stage to its oblivion…and lends credence to allegations of India becoming ‘the world’s largest illiberal democracy’.” Like every patriot, I pray that good sense prevails so we can remain the world’s largest liberal democracy. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “In the days of democracy, there is no such thing as active loyalty to a person. You are therefore loyal or disloyal to institutions.”
The writer is Member of Parliament, NCP
