Time for Indian politics to regain civility in debate

Parliament being disrupted by MP's 

By: Umang Arora

Indian politics appears to be at a very alarming stage. The kind of behavior shown by our representatives in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha is very embarrassing. There’re no sign of healthy discussions from which anything good can be concluded.

Lately, the sessions have deteriorated to bedlam whenever a controversial issue comes up for deliberation. Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 2 pm on Tuesday due to Congress protest seeking Home Ministers’ resignation on the NRC issue. Samajwadi Party members later started protesting against the 13-point Roster system disrupting the later session. Speaking outside Parliament House, Speaker said “unruly behavior” would not be accepted from any Member of Parliament. “I had warned them three times not to make noise or throw papers but despite my warning, they created a ruckus and behaved in an unruly manner. The scene was similar to a college classroom where kids throw papers at each other. If these members act and behave like them no sooner we will have to suspend all every time or take action.” The productivity of Rajya Sabha, in this budget session, clocked at a mere 5%, according to PRS Legislative Research estimates.

There’s no country in the world where conflicts don’t take place. Debates and discussions are a sign of healthy democracy. However, minimum civility should be maintained even at the face of extreme disagreements. Most often, the speaker is seen pleading the members to “maintain the decorum” in the assembly. Whether there’s hooting, hugging or screaming, they all interrupt the activities of the Parliament ultimately wasting the public money involved in holding a session of representatives in the biggest democracy in the world.

Unruly behavior in the Sabhas is nothing new in the Indian context. The President’s address to a joint session was disrupted on 18th Feb 1963 by some of the MPs for the speech being in English instead of Hindi. Then Prime Minister Nehru condemned the act and described it as “the first of its kind” and “most regrettable” one.

“The Rules of Conduct and Parliamentary Etiquette” of the Rajya Sabha in fact draws out the rules of the game very clearly. As per the document, “the House has the right to punish its members for their misconduct whether in the House or outside it. In cases of misconduct or contempt committed by its members, the House can impose a punishment in the form of admonition, reprimand, and withdrawal from the House, suspension from the service of the House, imprisonment and expulsion from the House." It is the duty of Chairman/Deputy Chairman of the Parliament to apply the existing rules strictly.

The way politicians presented themselves in the Sabha was not something which can be shown to the young in the country as a civilized example of a debate. In fact, the culture of debate is coming down day by day. For instance, out of the 14 bills passed in the winter session, 9 were deliberated upon for less than an hour and a half only. Even when someone’s speaking, the other side would keep hooting, keep interrupting the whole assembly.

Most of the politicians don’t even bother to show up. Only 5% of MPs have 100% attendance. While the average attendance of MPs is 73% against the required 80%, there are MPs like Hema Malini(BJP), Mausam Noor(INC), Anoop Mishra(BJP) or Muzaffar Hussain Baig(PDP) who’ve attendance of 39%, 47%, 46% and 11% respectively during their tenure as per the data of PRS Legislative Research. Almost 25 MPs have never participated in any discussion or asked any questions ever.

We talk of becoming a superpower nation but it is only possible if the citizens, most importantly our politicians, acknowledge the importance of debate in a democracy and follow the ways of expressing disagreement in civility. Though democracy is also about agreeing to disagree, it shall not be by shouting the other down.