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Escaping Responsibility

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How is the cause of the ‘INDI Alliance’ being furthered by repeated adjournments of Parliament, the Lok Sabha, in particular? It is not just the case in the ongoing session, but the earlier ones also. Some controversy emerges, almost magically, before the session and disturbances are staged in a manner that ensures early adjournment, with the Government pushing through its agenda almost without discussion. If it is the erosion of democracy that the opposition fears, why is it playing such a major role in stalling the functioning of Parliament? And, if unaccountable dictatorship is PM Narendra Modi’s objective, why is he being helped in achieving it?

If the opposition front sincerely wants the problems in Manipur to be addressed in Parliament, why is it behaving in a manner that makes it difficult to do so? It should, instead, be cooperating fully with the respective Chairs so that there is absolutely no excuse left for the Government to escape the discussion. Its present behaviour sends the message, instead, that it lacks the ability to present its case, be it on the Manipur issue or the Delhi ordinance, and so is simply making noise to prove how much it has the people’s interests at heart.

This approach is by no means healthy for Indian democracy. The people should take note and communicate their displeasure to the public representatives. Rather than blindly follow politicians for reasons of caste, community, region or vested interests, they should exercise their votes to elect smarter politicians, instead. And it must be noted that the BJP is no less culpable in states where it is in the opposition – the goings on in the Karnataka legislature are a case in point. They are all taking the easy path, even as the entire lot fully utilises the perks and privileges as legislators at the taxpayers’ expense.

The media too should better reflect the public’s disapproval of this erosion of democratic functioning. The inability to discuss and debate invariably leads to bad governance and electoral defeat. Power should not make politicians blind to the fact that there is always a reckoning, no matter how much of a hold they may have on the system. About time they pull up their socks and get down to doing what they are supposed to – shaping policy after giving it due deliberation on the appropriate forums.