This impasse can’t continue
The Parliament must live up to its mandate
The first week of post-recess budget session of Parliament is all set to be washed out. Within minutes of both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha starting every morning, different political formations storm the well of the House. There was a brief interlude in the Upper House on Thursday, when lawmakers across party lines spoke in a non partisan manner to mark Women’s Day. But soon after, it went back to business-as-usual: MPs have not had a chance to raise issues of public importance. The government has not been able to push through any legislation. The Opposition has not been able to hold the executive to account. Something as critical as the finance Bill remains pending.
No party can escape blame for the state of affairs in Parliament. In Opposition, the BJP disrupted the House; in government, it is struggling to keep the house functioning. In government, Congress blamed the BJP for its undemocratic ways; in Opposition, the Congress is emulating precisely the same tactics to embarrass the government. The fact that there a range of smaller forces — with region-specific demands, catering to their home constituencies — complicates the task further.
But the fact remains that irrespective of who is to blame, the House owes it to the public to do its duty: raise issues, discuss and debate policy, institute checks and balances and pass legislation. The core of the battle is the rules under which the discussion on the irregularities in the banking sector should happen (government wants a discussion; the Opposition wants a discussion and a vote) and whether it should be incident-specific or more comprehensive (the government wants it to be larger spanning years; the Opposition wants it to be specific to the PNB fraud). The onus lies on both the BJP and, as the primary Opposition, the Congress to reach an understanding and resolve the impasse. The Opposition must realise that it can’t use the issue to destabilise the government; the government must realise that a discussion on the banking fraud is essential. The first week is wasted. But from next week, Parliament must live up to its mandate.