Adjournments and Baith Jayiye Please.
It has now become a practice that in order to get their view point across the concerned political party has to create a scenario in the Parliament which will force the Speaker to adjourn the House usually for the whole day. The members are so happy at having stalled the proceedings that they proudly proclaim it repeatedly to waiting journalists and in TV debates. When reminded that Parliament is meant to function, they take umbrage under the plea that they are following a permitted Parliamentary practice.
Irrespective of the political party, all of them regularly stall the House proceedings. Even in the Upper House where one would expect more maturity from the Members the story is the same.The art of resolving issues through dialogue, debate and discussion seems to have been forgotten. Our MP's are now behaving more as corporate executives. They are acting like managers heavily involved in procedures. Leaders are supposed to have vision which inspires others.
Ever since the House proceedings are being televised it is very rare to hear scintillating debates or intelligent repartees amongst the Members. Humour is a casualty.Wisdom is rarely on display. What is on display is members almost regularly walking into the well of the House and shouting slogans in front of the Speaker. By now all of us know the Speaker will adjourn the House first for a few minutes then for a couple of hours and finally for the whole day. Like school kids the members must be feeling thrilled to have one more day off.
There was a time when the Speaker was in control of the House. When he/she would get up all standing members would sit down. Today the Speaker has to repeatedly remind the members to sit because he/she is on her feet. Frequently one sees how members do not allow a member to speak when he is called upon to do so by the Speaker. I have seen many times members who rarely speak, have come with home work and are getting a rare opportunity to speak but there are other members who are least considerate and keep shouting and do not allow him to speak.
Obstructing the house proceedings and forcing adjournments seems to be the style of contribution of increasing number of members. It does not require one to do home work nor does it require to hone speaking skills. Shouting at one's highest pitch is all that is required. I regularly watch the proceedings on TV. By now I am able to identify members who are ace hecklers, or who can shout best or who can go on speaking beyond their allotted time and so on. Most of the time one gets to hear only 'Baith jayiye" from the Speaker.
What sort of message is going from the House to the country? What are the youth of the country to learn from the House proceedings regarding problem resolution styles. The message seems to be obstruction, shouting and not allowing the House to function. It is my way or highway type approach. Coalition politics is emboldening parties with handful of members to dictate to parties ten times with larger representation. The need to stay in power is forcing submission to such stalling and obstructing partners by larger ruling partners.
What is the way out?. One way is that the people should elect a single party with a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha. This is easier said than done. The regional parties are themselves strong and the coalition politics is going to stay for many more decades. Therefore one does not see a way out. Dialogue and discussion will not be the way to forward one's agenda. It will continue to be slogan shouting,walking into the well of the house and getting its proceedings adjourned day after day as has happened couple of times in the past.
In many educational Institutes one way of teaching cooperation in problem solving was to hold mock 'parliaments' wherein procedures would be followed and speech giving was encouraged. Wonder what type of mock Parliaments are being held these days, if they are being held at all. The days when one could see and listen to oratory of the type Vajpayee or Jyotiromy Basu or Piloo Modi or Minoo Masani or Advani are perhaps not going to return for a long time. The present day MP's just do not have it in them. After all can oratory be genetically passed on?
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