The primary responsibility for the utter collapse of civility and debate in India’s highest elected body must be borne by the Prime Minister and the Congress-led UPA regime
The 15th lok Sabha, which ended its sittings last month, should easily go down as the worst lok Sabha the people have seen since the two Houses of Parliament were constituted in 1952. The extent of dysfunctionality of this House not only embodied the deep crisis in the country’s democratic system but also the near collapse of governance at the federal level.
While Members of Parliament across political parties must take the blame for the poor image of India’s highest elected body, the primary responsibility for the collapse of civility and debate in the House must be borne by the Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh, and the ruling United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress. While the House began on a relatively smooth note after its constitution in June 2009, things began to fall apart when a slew of corruption scandals came to the fore.
The first such scandal that hit the Government was the one relating to the Commonwealth Games after the Comptroller and Auditor-General reported major deficiencies in contracts and spending. Then came the really humongous scams pertaining to sale of 2G Spectrum by then Telecom Minister A Raja and the coal scam which was about the partisan and non-transparent manner in which coal blocks were sold to private parties. These scandals too came to the fore after the CAG submitted its reports on these matters to the President.
As each scam tumbled out of the UPA’s cupboard, MPs across political parties were perturbed over what seemed like open loot of the exchequer by Ministers, but the Prime Minister did nothing. He refused to have the matter probed independently by a commission or agency that enjoyed credibility in the public eye. Instead, he and his Ministers decided to brazen it out and allow the anger of MPs to spill over from one session to another.
The Winter Session of 2010 was washed out because the Government resisted the Opposition demand for a credible parliamentary probe into the 2G spectrum scandal. Similarly, the Monsoon Session of 2012 was hit by ‘Coalgate’ because Mr Singh, who held the coal portfolio as well when the scam took place, refused to own up responsibility for his actions and inactions. As Parliament remained disrupted, Mr Singh and his Ministers felt safe. He and his Government were accountable to none. This stubborn contempt for Parliament and for probity in public life eventually resulted in the image of Parliament taking a severe beating.
Throughout this five-year period there has not been a single day when Mr Singh stood up, took charge, gave assurances to the lok Sabha and led from the front. He has always behaved like a back bencher, shriveled in his seat and assumed the posture of a mauni baba. His refusal to take responsibility within the House, display leadership qualities and win the confidence of MPs has resulted in the loss of image of the House itself. Never before has a Prime Minister abdicated his responsibility to Parliament in this fashion. Therefore, his claim that “his heart bleeds” when he sees chaos in Parliament, sounds utterly hollow.
Statistics also tell us a lot about what Mr Singh and his colleagues have done to this lok Sabha. One can pick up any parameter and one will see how weak and disabled Parliament has become. In the 1950s and 1960s, the two Houses of Parliament met for an average of 130 to 140 days in a year. In fact, in 1956, Parliament met for 151 days. In recent years, the sittings/year is just half of what it used to be 50 years ago. Parliament sat for 81 days in 2010 and 63 days in 2013. Overall, the 15th lok Sabha sat for just 357 days — the lowest among lok Sabhas which have had a full five-year term.
But, this is not the only bit of statistic that is worrying. There is a lot more. While the number of sittings crashed by half, almost half of these days were washed out due to protests and obstructions. Over 50 per cent of Parliament’s time was lost to rowdy behaviour in 2013. The final session, which was the extended Winter Session, was the worst. The lok Sabha did business for only 22 of the 154 hours allocated for business during the Winter Session of 2013-2014.
The effect of these disruptions can be seen in the business transacted by the House. In the early days, MPs came well prepared with supplementaries and grilled Ministers during Question Hour. Such was the alertness of MPs that Ministers approached Question Hour with much trepidation. They would often fumble in their replies, compelling the Prime Minister to rush to their rescue. Such was the fear among Ministers that they would plead with MPs under whose names questions were listed, to stay away from Question Hour so that a difficult question was not taken up for oral answers.
However, with the passage of time, and specially during the 15th lok Sabha, MPs began disrupting Question Hour and this came as a big relief to Ministers. PRS legislative Research reports on the damage done to public interest because of the disruption of Question Hour. Of the 1,100 questions slated for oral answers in the lok Sabha in 2013, just 56 were answered. Similarly, just 77 of the 1,100 questions listed in the Rajya Sabha were answered in that House. In other words, only 133 questions (six per cent) of the 2,200 listed for oral answers in the two Houses of Parliament in 2013 were answered last year.
A similar fall is visible in the area of law-making. The 1st and 2nd lok Sabhas passed 333 and 327 Bills respectively. In later years, the 7th lok Sabha, which was constituted in 1980 passed 329 Bills whereas the 8th lok Sabha 334 Bills. In the 15th lok Sabha, the House passed just 177 Bills. This means that the productivity of the House has crashed by at least 50 per cent over the last 25 years.
What does the 16th lok Sabha hold for usIJ Mr Singh has announced that he will not be seeking office again. Also, all opinion polls suggest that the Congress is in for a drubbing. So, we should not lose hope!