OPINION | India’s Parliament embodies form over substance as distrust and bitterness prevail

A no-confidence motion has been moved against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

Two episodes in the Lok Sabha within four sittings brought to fore the extent of deterioration in the relations between the government and the opposition.

First, Speaker Om Birla announced that apprehending serious disorder he advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi not come to the House for his reply to the customary Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address and then on Tuesday, a combined opposition submitted a Motion of No-confidence in the Speaker.

This stand-off comes at a time Parliament just about started to discuss the most important legislative business of session, the Budget. The Constitution grants the lower house power of the purse and it is a duty of the directly-elected Lok Sabha members to scrutinise the proposals before voting on its passage.

Perceptions of being wronged

Why did the situation take such a turn? Both the governing coalition and the opposition benches are building a perception of being wronged by the other side. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju stated the Leader of the Opposition and the Congress Members were stalling the proceedings and denying opportunity to others on its side of the aisle who were keen to place views on the Budget.

Upset that the Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi was not being allowed to have his say, the Congress MPs created ruckus in the House, leading to frequent disruptions and no meaningful debate on the President's Address could be held. Normally, members can raise any issue referring to points in the address.

Catalyst for the current friction

The trigger point was the attempt by Rahul Gandhi to refer to a certain passage from an unpublished memoir of former Army Chief General Manoj Naravane, which the Speaker did not permit. On his part, Rahul Gandhi maintained he broached the issue after a BJP member during early part of the debate questioned Congress' patriotism.

The stalemate aggravated after another BJP member made references about the Gandhi-Nehru family from books which the Congress felt should not have been allowed.

The Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge too took exception and raised the matter in the Rajya Sabha, questioning the approach as the Leader of the Opposition of the other House was not being afforded the opportunity to record his views. The combined opposition threw in its weight, and decided to take it up collectively.

Opposition is not united as core interests differ

However, it is here there was lack of unanimity on the strategy. For one, most constituents in the I.N.D.I. Alliance had individual priorities and were unwilling to toe the Congress' line. If the Samajwadi Party wanted to talk about alleged desecration of a statue at Varanasi, the Trinamool Congress sought to focus on the Special Intensive Revision process of electoral rolls in West Bengal.

In order to address the larger issue of Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition, not being allowed to have his way, a suggestion of a joint letter to the Speaker found little favour from the Congress. Eventually, Congress and others submitted a notice for a resolution against the continuation of the Speaker, but the TMC members did not endorse it.

Government’s majority makes most opposition actions symbolic in nature

While the notice is under examination by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the Speaker decided not to attend the House till it is disposed of. In the event of admission of the resolution for a debate, the government has the numbers to defeat it.

Similarly, the government would not break a sweat had the discussion on the Budget not been held. It is in majority and can get it through, even if the House is not in order. It is the opposition which squanders  a chance to register its strong objections to various proposals and breakdown the figures threadbare by cutting the chaff.

The House is scheduled to go into recess on Friday and resume sittings on March 9 for the second and concluding part of the Budget session. In the interim, Standing Committees of jurisdiction, will examine the allocations sought by different Ministries. Technically, Parliament remains in session.

Signs of distrust cropped up when the Opposition made moves to remove the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha earlier. Of course, these notices were rejected on technical scrutiny. While the Deputy Chairman Harivansh is in office, the then Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar resigned later citing personal grounds.

Trust deficit leaves little room for hope

The manner in which relations between the BJP-led governing coalition and opposition soured in the recent days offers little room for any meaningful reconciliation. The breakdown is complete and this development does not augur well for parliamentary democracy in the country. The spirit of accommodation in Parliament is conspicuous by its absence. It will require statesmanship on all sides to repair this.

(KV Prasad is a senior journalist and author of two books on Parliament of India.)

Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.