Dec 11, 2024 07:46 IST First published on: Dec 11, 2024 at 07:46 IST
The breakdown of dialogue in Parliament is a by-now familiar sight, but that does not make it any less disquieting. The current impasse is also uniquely disturbing. It is marked by the Congress’s demand for a discussion on the indictment of the Adani Group by the US Department of Justice, and the BJP’s refusal and invocation of a sinister “foreign hand” to counter it — it alleges links between Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and ostensibly anti-India organisations funded by billionaire investor George Soros. It features an otherwise divided Opposition — the SP and TMC have kept away from the Congress’s exertions on the Adani matter — taking the unusual step of jointly moving a no-confidence motion, even though it does not have the numbers, against Rajya Sabha chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar for his allegedly partisan conduct of House proceedings.
It includes the spectacle of a Congress, thwarted in its attempts to bring the Adani matter into the House — which is where it should rightfully be raised and discussed — resorting to ill-fitting methods to draw public attention to a serious issue, with masks, stickers, mock interviews. For a while it seemed that a truce was declared by both sides, dates were also set for the debate on the Constitution in both Houses. But the thaw was shortlived, and for that both sides must take responsibility, with the ruling side taking a greater share of it.
In a sense, the logjam could have been foretold. In its backdrop are two election results, a zigzag line between them. The Lok Sabha outcome was a setback for the Modi-BJP, which was returned to power with a much-reduced number of seats and made dependent on its allies, and it was a leg-up for the Opposition, with Congress nearly doubling its tally. But even as that verdict was being read and its implications were sinking in, the assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra gave the BJP the upper hand again, with the latter routing the Congress-led alliance dramatically.
The political equations that were being reset by the Lok Sabha results — raising hopes of a more conciliatory government and a less besieged Opposition — have been roiled again by the assembly outcomes. The current deshabille in the House reflects that. But what it also showcases is this — parties on both sides of the dividing line see Parliament mostly as an arena for a show of strength, and as a result, the House mirrors the waxing and waning of electoral fortunes much too closely. It is not seen as an institution whose primary function is to host a participatory debate and a collective deliberation, and the enforcement of accountability.
Parliament today misses political leaders who could act as a bridge, reach across the aisle, strike up a conversation with the other side. A way must be found nevertheless for it to function again as it is meant to. A host of issues are lining up outside its closed doors: Adani indictment to challenges to growth, Manipur’s prolonged crisis to the Centre’s stand on the Places of Worship Act to the Delhi-Dhaka dialogue. The silence in the highest forum of debate should not go on, the stakes are too high in a large and complex democracy. Both sides should take a step back — the ruling party the bigger one.
