The Death of Debate: Parliamentary acrimony is a sign of democracy in decline

 THE ACRIMONY IN India’s Parliament today is both reprehensible and avoidable. But given the hardened positions that both the treasury and the opposition have adopted, there seems to be no way out. In the good old days, you had people from both sides of the aisle willing to reach out to each other and talk, not because they wanted Parliament to run, but because they believed they had a responsibility to the people. That responsibility today has dwindled.

I don’t blame the prime minister for not wanting to address Parliament because it results in mayhem. So what you’re seeing today is a logjam of the worst kind. If our democracy is supposed to be governed through the rule of law, which has to be established by Parliament, and if Parliament itself is dysfunctional, it tells you a lot about the health of our democracy.

It is equally important for everyone to understand that media attention on Parliament, or for that matter, live streaming, doesn’t seem to help because in some strange manner, bad behaviour is seen to be more ‘trending’. You have unruly members of Parliament who believe that they are reaching out or playing to the galleries, especially as far as their constituents are concerned.

Which again says a lot about the kind of people we have become and the kind of leaders we often elect. So, what is the solution? The solution is to have a Speaker who not only has the respect but has the command to establish his or her writ over Parliament, a writ that is therefore unchallenged and is held accountable. In recent months, we have seen the Speaker himself has abdicated his responsibility many a time, with the result that it is now a free-for-all in Parliament.

How can we ever have a Parliament that is funded by the taxpayer, the cost of which is almost `9 crore per day to run, and is never run properly? The recent Union Budget and the Presidential Address were a washout because neither was a debate encouraged nor was a debate indulged in.

Rahul Gandhi as Leader of Opposition is behaving in the most despicable manner. I would have imagined him to be far more responsible. There are many who believe that he has to do what he has to do because he isn’t given a chance to speak.

But then, there has to be a way out. It cannot be that you use Parliament as a pulpit to generate hate, animosity, and abuse. If Rahul Gandhi thinks he has not been given his fair share, then the smart thing to do would be to address a press conference on a daily basis, rather than indulge in poster warfare right outside Parliament, at times mocking people who were erstwhile members of his party.

The time has now come for the prime minister to reach out to all members of the opposition and suggest to them that this is not what the people expect.

Until that happens, it will be more a battle of ego rather than a battle of wit. It will be more a battle of verbal supremacy rather than intellectual heft. And in the process, what we will do is damage our democracy further. We will allow our children to be raised on a diet of abuse, where they will believe that it is alright for leaders to mock each other, to abuse each other, and to allow the sacred halls of Parliament to resemble a wrestling ring, and that is totally unforgivable.

Future generations will never forgive the leaders of today for the kind of mess they have created with India’s Parliament. We’ve forgotten the art of satire, we’ve forgotten wit and humour, and more importantly, those long, interesting debates that Parliament used to witness on issues that were germane and relevant to each and every Indian. Today, it seems that Parliament functions in spite of India and not because of it.