Both The BJP And The Opposition Must Ensure Smooth Functioning Of Parliament
The India Commentary view
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By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-07-29 06:17:46
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The India Commentary view
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Although the presiding officers of both houses of Parliament have the power to eject members who wilfully obstruct the House proceedings, yet the recent decision of presiding officers of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in suspending 4 and 23 opposition MPs for various terms was unwarranted. Granted the MPs were wilfully obstructing the proceedings but they could have been suspended just for a day. The 'punishment' meted out to them was disproportionate to their actions. The suspended MPs have alleged that the government is afraid of criticism.
The BJP has to recognize that despite its brute majority in Parliament, democracy functions well and effectively only when discussions are held in Parliament on matters of national importance. But the party has been using its majority to pass important legislations without allowing meaningful debate and has been, in some cases like the farm bills, paying a huge political price for it. If nothing else that should make it realize that carrying the opposition with it is necessary to bring in urgent and necessary reforms.
In the instant case, the opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha were adamant to have a discussion on the price rise - a subject that is of importance to the people - and the government said that it will allow the same only after the finance minister recovered from illness. If the relations between the treasury and opposition benches were cordial, the matter would have ended there. But given its past record in avoiding prickly issues in the houses, the opposition thought that it was one more tactic to avoid discussion and pressed the issue, leading to the disruption and suspension.
As the ruling party, it is upon the BJP to ensure that the house functions smoothly. It has to build relations with the opposition and allow them to raise issues of national importance. It must allow debate on the same. The quality of business done in Parliament is definitely more important than judging productivity only by the number of bills passed. Even the Supreme Court has observed that poorly drafted laws lead to more court cases. The BJP has to be more accommodative for the sake of democracy and good governance. The people deserve a Parliament that passes bills after proper vetting and meaningful debate.
