The wash-out of the winter session of Parliament is distressing. Debate and discussion are sine qua non in a democracy. Our Parliament is from its very nature and composition a vital forum for debates before enacting the legislation or taking important policy decisions. Any piece of legislation before it is ultimately enacted as a statute needs to be vigorously debated, in the course of which some unfair or oppressive provisions may be pointed out and sharply criticised.
A responsible and responsive government would, or should, pay heed to the criticisms and make suitable amendments. That is what democracy is all about. Otherwise, democracy ceases to be the government of the people, by the people and for the people. It becomes bludgeoning of the people by a few to the detriment of the people.
On account of the rowdy behaviour of some MPs, the presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are constrained to adjourn the House because of their unwillingness or inability to discipline them. This tarnishes the image of our Parliament. The average Indian citizen loses respect for the Houses when their representatives behave in a shoddy manner with impunity.
The recent remarks of President Pranab Mukherjee on this issue, “For God’s sake, do your job. You are meant to transact business in Parliament. Disruption of Parliament is not acceptable at all” are significant.
Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Hamid Ansari, expressed his dismay over regular and continuous disruptions which characterised the winter session. In memorable words, he said “the symbolism of dignified protest so essential for orderly conduct of parliamentary proceedings was abandoned. This deprived members of the opportunity to seek accountability of the executive through questions and discussions on matters of public interest”.
Ansari was pained that the prohibition in the rules about shouting slogans, displaying posters and obstructing proceedings by leaving their assigned places was consistently ignored by all sections of the House. He urged that all sections of the House need to introspect on “the distinction between dissent, disruption and agitation”.
If the sentiments expressed by our President and Vice-President Hamid Ansari as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha are not heeded, there will be terrible deficit in democracy, and consequently our democracy will be under siege. Is it too much to hope that good sense will prevail, and the disruptions which we witnessed were just an aberration? Or is that an Utopian dream? May be. But remember that a country, which does not have Utopia on its map, is not worth living in and progress is the realisation of Utopia.
Commendable stand of US Attorney General
It is regrettable that a blanket ban has been imposed in the US on the entry of people on the basis of faith. Attorney General of US Loretta Lynch criticised the action on the ground “that to impose a blanket stereotype on all members of any faith because of the actions of those who pervert that faith is to go backwards in our thinking and our discourse, and to repudiate the founding ideals of this country”.
Lynch made the statement in an inter-faith address at a mosque in Greater Washington Area of Virginia, which was attended by Indian Americans of different faiths. Lynch said the Department of Justice and the entire Obama administration regard hate crimes with utmost seriousness, whenever they target individuals because of their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. She went on to say that “Muslim Americans are our friends and family members, our doctors and nurses, our police officers and firefighters. They own businesses and teach in classrooms.
Thousands of them have fought for the American flag and died defending it. And yet too often, especially in the last year following a number of tragic terrorist incidents, and amidst an increase in divisive and fearful rhetoric we have seen Muslim Americans targeted and demonised simply because of their faith”.
The US Attorney General declared: “Muslim Americans, Sikh Americans
and Hindu Americans, all practitioners of all faiths, You are friends, You are family members”. This laudable stand taken by Lynch should be emulated in other democracies.
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