Opp slams Centre, TMC says Covid used as excuse to ‘murder democracy’ n
For the first time in the history of Parliament, there will not be any Question Hour. The Government has claimed it took this decision this Monsoon Session of Parliament which starts on September 14 keeping in view safeguard related to coronavirus pandemic, but the move has outraged the Opposition MPs.
Opposition leaders said they were conveyed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh that to deal with Question Hour requirement, Ministers would need to be briefed by officials of their Ministries and this would raise the number of visitors to Parliament during Covid times.
While senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to mark his protest, Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien of the Trinamool Congress said the pandemic was being used as an excuse to “murder democracy”. The Question Hour, the first hour in the House, allows members to ask the Government questions.
Rajnath, who is also the Deputy Leader of the Lok Sabha, reached out to senior Opposition leaders, including Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Trinamool’s Derek O’Brien before finalising the plans.
“MPs required to submit questions for Question Hour in Parliament 15 days in advance. Session starts 14 September. So Question Hour cancelled? Opposition MPs lose right to question Govt. A first since 1950? Parliament overall working hours remain same so why cancel Question Hour? Pandemic excuse to murder democracy,” O’Brien said.
In view of the coronavirus pandemic, Private Member’s Business, usually fixed for every Friday has also been skipped.
The session will have staggered timings to accommodate MPs of one House in both chambers and follow strict physical distancing norms.
On the first day, the Lok Sabha will have its proceedings from 9 am to 1 pm. Thereafter, from September 15 to October 1, the Lower House will have its sitting from 3 pm to 7 pm.
Similarly, from the second day, the Rajya Sabha will be transacting its business between 9 am and 1 pm.
The two-hour break between 1 pm and 3 pm will be used to disinfect both the chambers, said an official. The session will have 18 sittings, which includes two working Saturdays and Sundays each, and will end on October 1.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said questioning the Government is the oxygen of parliamentary democracy.
“I said four months ago that strongmen leaders would use the excuse of the pandemic to stifle democracy and dissent. The notification for the delayed Parliament session blandly announces there will be no Question Hour. How can this be justified in the name of keeping us safe,” Tharoor said.
“Questioning the Government is the oxygen of parliamentary democracy. This Government seeks to reduce parliament to a notice-board and uses its crushing majority as a rubber-stamp for whatever it wants to pass. The one mechanism to promote accountability has now been done away with,” added the Congress MP from Kerala.
Brien further mentioned that about 50 per cent of Parliament’s time is reserved for the Government and the other 50 per cent for the Opposition. “The BJP wants to turn Parliament of the people into M&S Private Limited (figure out the abbreviation!). Under the best traditions of the Westminster Model, ‘the Parliament belongs to Opposition’,” Brien said.
DMK leader Kanimozhi tweeted, “The BJP Government’s decision to suspend the Question Hour for an entire session conveys just one message - ‘Even elected representatives have no right to question the Government’.”