legislature is a house for debate and discussion on public issues. Decline in people's trust can have ramifications that our legislators must be aware of
Far away from the overzealous and frenetic media gaze on Nirav Modi in Delhi, a group of legislators from all over the country, and many parts of the world, congregated quietly in Patna to deliberate on Parliamentary democracy, its virtues and values. The deliberations at the Sixth India Region conference of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, and the messages that emerged, acquire significance in wake of the real and perceived deterioration in the functioning of India's law making institutions — the Parliament and legislative Assemblies.
Not too long ago, the country was witness to some very disturbing visuals from the legislature. During the Prime Minister's Motion of Thanks on the President's Budget address in Parliament on February 7, people watched with horror as Opposition MPs kept chanting slogans throughout the period when the Prime Minister was making his speech. A day later, on February 8, on the first day of the Uttar Pradesh Budget, an equally embarrassing visual came from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. Members belonging to the Samajwadi Party threw paper missiles even as the Governor attempted his best to complete the customary address to the joint session of the State legislature. Unfortunately, commotion and chaos inside the legislature have become far too common.
The message at the Bihar conference, as reiterated by the lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, was loud and clear: Each vital institution of the Indian democracy has a critical role to play and they are all accountable to the people of the country. As Chairperson of the India region of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Sumitra Mahajan also advised the critical role that people's representatives have to play in development.
Speaker of Bihar Assembly Vijay Kumar Choudhary expressed his concern in the welcome note to this prestigious conference in Patna, when he said, “Diminishing trust level of people in the legislature and the erosion of its credibility are subjects of concern for all of us present here. legislature is a house for debate and discussion of public issues where people's representatives sit and discuss to facilitate the public good. The quality of discussion and debate of the legislature remain under close public scrutiny and in the absence of meaningful discussion, the image of the house and public representatives get tarnished naturally.” And decline in people's trust can have other ramifications that legislators must be aware of.
Secretary General of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Akbar Khan also echoed similar sentiments when he said, “There is clear evidence in recent years of falling public trust in politicians and state institutions to narrow the inequality gaps and improve the lives of the most vulnerable and marginalised.” Spelling out his prescription to the law makers, Khan added, “As Parliamentarians, I am sure you would agree that lying at the core of a flourishing democracy are the values of good governance. As a guarantor of democracy itself, parliament has a duty to represent the people it serves — and it can only do this by being an inclusive, accountable, open and transparent institution.”
In recent past, however, much to the disappointment of the common citizens, accountability has taken a massive hit. Instead of debate and deliberations on key issues that affect the common people, our legislatures today have turned into places of political slug-fest. This also gets amplified into the public sphere, with social media providing a highly convenient outlet for politicians and legislators to indulge in verbal and written fisticuffs. Social media is degenerating political discourse like never before, and it's essential for political parties to sit down and work out a policy for the same.
On the sidelines of the conference, many Speakers of State Assemblies, while acknowledging the decline in quality of discourse, said such conferences provide ample opportunities to deliberate on key challenges and learn from each other. Punjab Deputy Speaker Ajaib Singh Bhatti said, it was important for political parties to maintain decorum in debates, adding that “difference of opinion lie at the core of the democratic process and it must be done elegantly.”
On elegance, one can certainly take a cue from a pleasant video that surfaced — around the same time that the
Indian Parliament and Uttar Pradesh Assembly were submerged in acrimony. United Kingdom's International Development Minister and former Conservative MP lord Bate, who turned up late at the House of lords chamber for answering oral questions of labour Party's Baroness Ruth lister said, “I'm thoroughly ashamed at not being in my place and therefore I shall be offering my resignation to the Prime Minister with immediate effect. I do apologise.”
“During the five years in which it's been my privilege to answer questions from this dispatch box on behalf of the government, I've always believed that we should rise to the highest possible standards of courtesy and respect in responding on behalf of the government to the legitimate questions of the legislature,” he said before offering to resign.
A great lesson indeed for our legislators, perhaps.
(The writer is a strategic communications professional)