There were some unprecedented and unruly scenes in the Rajya Sabha on 20 September. Mikes were broken, rulebooks were torn and opposition members entered the well of the House shouting and heckling the Chair of the House (at the time it was Deputy Speaker, Harivansh Narayan Singh of JDU). It all started with the ruling alliance insisting on bulldozing two farm bills, which had already been promulgated as ordinances earlier this year in June, in the Rajya Sabha without referring it to a select committee or allowing a division of votes.
Congress MP, Pratap Singh Bajwa told the media: “We demanded the division of votes under rule 252, but it was not fulfilled. What is the use of Parliament when it is not allowed to function democratically? We will protest for the rights of farmers.”
Justifying the behaviour of the opposition MPs, the Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien took to Twitter and explained in a video: “After the Opposition was deprived of its basic right… the Opposition was in the well of the House, there was protest, a lot of heat. Yes, two or three Opposition MPs broke microphones. But what do you want them to do, just keep sitting in their seats and have lollipop? Extreme situations ask for extreme forms of protest. What are you talking about breaking 2-3 microphones when the BJP is breaking the backbone of parliamentary democracy? The story goes out that one MP has torn the (rule) book. No, I did not tear the book. By this time, we realised the Rajya Sabha Television was being censored. You are censoring your MPs, your elected representatives. You can’t be writing your own rules for democracy. Yes, there are rules you shouldn’t be shooting inside the House or the Central Hall, but we can’t let BJP get away with everything. We shot the videos to keep a record of the things.”
Eight MPs including Derek were suspended for the rest of the session by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha for ‘indiscipline’. This episode is symbolic of how the policy of polarisation, authoritarianism and majoritarianism has permeated our polity. It is steadily eroding our democratic values and space to dissent. The right to question and demand accountability is being systematically throttled. The ruling dispensation frequently adopts the route of passing legislation via the ordinance route or through a fast track process. This is slowly but surely impairing our democracy and giving rise to fears of, if we use the categorisation of the ‘Democratic Index’, India sliding from being a “flawed democracy” to becoming a hybrid or authoritarian regime.
DOING AWAY WITH THE ‘HOUR’ OF RECKONING
The monsoon session of Parliament, which began on 14 September, ended on 23 September. The session did not have any “Question Hour” and had a curtailed “Zero Hour”. According to the Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Prahlad Joshi – “The productivity of Lok Sabha was about 167% and that of Rajya Sabha was about 100.47% during the monsoon session. 22 bills (16 in Lok Sabha and 06 in Rajya Sabha) were introduced. Individually, 25 bills were passed in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and 27 bills were passed by both the Houses of Parliament. The rate of passage of bills was 2.7 bills per day, one of the best rates Indian Parliament has managed to achieve until now.”
This cutting back on the question and zero hour and the celebration of increased efficiency in the passage of bills is reflective of a mindset that wants Parliament to become a house of fast track legislation with little concern for consultation, review, debate and discussion. Zero hour is a unique Indian parliamentary tradition which provides space for all MPs to raise issues of urgent importance. In a Parliament in which the ruling coalition has an overwhelming majority and the Opposition having very few opportunities to voice their concerns and issues, the Zero hour was something that should have been protected and given more time. Given the various constraints thrown by the coronavirus, parliaments the world over and even in some of the state assemblies in our country have still managed to keep the same working hours by smart modification of procedures and processes. However, those in power seem to be in a hurry with little concern for bills being thoroughly dissected and checked before they become law.
SOME NUMBERS FOR COMPARISON
According to indiaspend.com (a non-profit research project that looks at open data to analyse a range of issues with the broader objective of fostering better governance, transparency and accountability in the Indian government), not a single meeting was conducted of any parliamentary committee after the national lockdown of 24 March 2020. Nor did any of the 24 departmentally related standing committees meet once either physically or virtually.
| Percentage of Bills referred to Committees implies consultative and democratic spirit | |||
| UPA I | UPA II | NDA I | NDA II |
| 2004 –2009 | 2009–2014 | 2014–2019 | 2019 till date |
| 60% | 71% | 25% | 10% |
From March until August 2020, the government promulgated 11 ordinances. This includes the amended Income Tax Act that allows 100% tax exemption for donations made to the PM Cares Fund. In the same article (Parliamentary Panels’ Role, Functioning At All-Time Low, Data Show – Sana Ali, Ambar Sharma September 14, 2020), PDT Achary, former secretary-general of Lok Sabha says: “Traditionally, parliamentary committees function on a non-party basis. Of late, this tradition seems to have broken down and members have started political posturing. Political neutrality was ensured as committees only called officials as witnesses, and ministers were not invited in the meetings. Standing committees provide a platform for MPs of all political parties to come together and deliberate on issues of public importance in a neutral manner. The confidentiality aspect gives the MPs an opportunity to form a consensus.”
This curt approach in the conduct of parliamentary proceedings by the NDA alliance is not entirely unexpected given the sheer numbers they have in Parliament. Moreover, the ideological leanings and the domineering traits of their leadership further exacerbate this tilt towards an attitude of indifference and unconcern.
THE PRINCIPLE OF “AMRUHUM SHURA BAINAHUM”
The Qur’an lays down a very important principle in the realm of public life. It can be termed as the rule of amruhum shura bainahum – i.e. to conduct the affairs of collective life through mutual consultation. There is a very subtle ‘takeaway’ from this Qur’anic injunction. Allah does not say: “They are consulted in their affairs”, but says: “They conduct their affairs by mutual consultations”. The advice that is given by a consensus of the advisers, or which has the support of the majority of the people, should be accepted, for if a person (or a group of persons) behaves independently and acts on his own whims, even after hearing the advice of others, consultation becomes meaningless. This principle forms the crux of the democratic spirit permeating in the political structure that is established by Islam.
It is also a litmus test of the democratic nature of a government, an institution or even a political personality. If there is aversion to seeking advice and heeding to it and there is a certain disdain for feedback and transparency, we know that the climate is not conducive to democracy and things are moving in the direction of authoritarianism and dictatorship. Fast track legislation that bypasses all set-norms of scrutiny and discussion leads to variance from the indices of a healthy democracy. We must ensure course-correction before it is too late.