We, and the people

Nevertheless, as awe-struck as any ordinary Indian on the first day that I saw this breathtaking building, I have often wondered. Will this Indian Parliament redeem its pledge to the people of India? Are their prayers being satisfactorily answered? Are their problems being properly discussed by the members of the Legislature? And is the Executive that the Legislature brings into being acting earnestly to fulfil the aspirations of the people?

Or is India’s Parliament too distant from the lives of her teeming millions? And have the workings of the Legislature and the Executive become too dense, too mired in the divide between the Treasury and Opposition Benches, to reflect the true purpose for which they were created by the Constitution?

These questions have agitated me, in one way or the other, since the first time I entered the Lok Sabha in 1957. The same questions trouble me even now, albeit in ways different from those in the past.

Parliamentary democracy in India has also given a fairly good account of itself. Our Parliament, along with State Legislature and Panchayati Raj institutions, has served to promote the guiding ideals of our Constitution—namely, participative democracy, secularism, social justice and growing opportunities for the citizens to partake of the nation’s all-round progress. We must never lose sight of, and never shy away from proudly projecting the enormous contribution of parliamentary democracy to the making of modern India.

In my long innings in Parliament, I have observed two somewhat contradictory trends. First, democracy in India has taken deeper and firmer roots today than in the early decades of our Independence. More and more sections of our diverse society, especially those belonging to Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs, have found their due place in Parliament and State Legislatures.

Simultaneously, regional aspirations have also found a greater expression in politics in States and in the Centre than at any time in the past. Continuing on this path, I have no doubt that we will soon arrive at the necessary consensus to legislate the long-awaited Women’s Reservation Bill, which will be a revolutionary step in women’s empowerment.

What is also welcome is that over the years, we have learnt to live with the imperative of coalition politics. No single political party today has the kind of overpowering sway both in the Centre and the States that the Congress had in the initial decades of our Independence. Coalition politics is taking roots and is proving that it can be stable and successful if all partners learn to work together.

All of us have also seen the second, negative trend in our democracy during the same period. And, that is the declining standards of the working of our Parliament and State Legislatures. The tendency to disrupt the scheduled proceedings at the least provocation, or sometimes even without any provocation, is on the rise.

In some State Legislatures, this has even resulted in violence on the floor of the House. The violence is not only to the property of the House, not only to the persons present, but perhaps, the greatest injury is caused to the spirit of democracy and to the trust of the voters.

The greatness our Parliament does not lie just in its majestic building. It is derived from and sustained by the quality of debate that takes place inside it, and the traditions of discipline and decorum that we set. Its greatness is determined by now the progressive laws that it enacts, and the fruitful discussions that it holds on various subjects, benefit the people and shape the destiny of the nation.

I have a few suggestions to make. One of the principal reasons for the growing lack of discipline and decorum in the House is the excessive competition among political parties to capture and retain power at any cost. We have somehow forgotten that in a parliamentary democracy, both ruling and Opposition parties have an honourable and responsible role to play.

Democracy is not a game of 51 vs 49. Who is 51 and who is 49, who should sit on the Treasury Benches and who should sit on Opposition Benches is the sovereign decision that the people alone make. While constructive opposition is the essence of democracy, opposition for the sake of opposition weakens both democracy and good governance.

In my long association with Parliament, I have watched and heard many stalwarts in action, belonging to both ruling and Opposition parties. There was, of course, the great Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, my leader in the Jana Sangh, who was elected to the first Lok Sabha from Bengal.

I have also seen Acharya Kripalani, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Morarji Desai, Jagjivan Ram, Bhupesh Gupta, Indrajit Gupta, N.G.Ranga, Jyotirmoy Bosu, Piloo Mody, Feroze Gandhi, not to speak of Pandit Nehru and Indira Gandhi. How can I not mention Rajiv Gandhi, who charmed everybody by his etiquette and youthful dreams for a better India. Not everyone subscribed to everyone else’s ideologies or viewpoints on specific issues. Nevertheless, all of them have contributed to the rich and proud tradition of India’s Parliament.

It saddens me to note that the attitude of wanting to hear the opposite point of view is waning. We are a diverse country. Political pluralism is the very heart of our democracy. It is what lends vibrancy and vigour to parliamentary debate.

The third corrective that I would like to present here is the virtue of self-discipline. I am reminded here of what Pandit Nehru said way back in 1952: ‘‘You may define democracy in a hundred ways, but surely one of its definitions is self-discipline of the community. The less the imposed discipline and the more the self-discipline, the higher is the development of democracy’’.

As I look back to my first day in the Lok Sabha, I cannot but wonder how far our parliamentary democracy has travelled. I had never imagined that one day I, a backbencher belonging to a marginal party, would be mandated by the people to sit on the chair that Pandit Nehru first occupied. But this is a chair that imposes enormous responsibility on its occupant. Indeed, every chair in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha places enormous responsibility on its occupant.

It is this sense of responsibility, this sense of accountability to the people who have elected us and to the Constitution that we have all sworn allegiance to, which alone can bridge the gap between the promise and performance of India’s Parliament in the next half century.

Fifty Years of Indian Parliament, edited by G C Malhotra and distributed by Metropolitan Book Co. Pvt Ltd , Rs 1,500