The 2024 Lok Sabha elections stripped the BJP of its majority in a clear display of the people’s dissatisfaction with its governance. Many of us had hoped that the government would recognise this as an opportunity for course correction, turning away from its authoritarian mode of running Parliament — and, by extension, the nation.
In many ways, this new Parliament has, from its very first session, proven to be far different from the two that came before it. The more balanced composition of the Lower House has made it difficult for the government to bulldoze legislation or throttle the voices of the Opposition, which now has a leader whose post and privileges are legally defined. We have seen this play out in recent weeks, as the government was forced to hastily take back decisions it initially hailed as transformative, such as allowing lateral entry into government jobs while bypassing reservation.
Parliamentary committees will also now represent a greater diversity of thought. Perhaps more importantly, the route to amending crucial provisions of the Constitution in furtherance of a political agenda has been firmly closed off.
This session, the trend of spending less and less time debating the Union Budget was reversed, and it was discussed for over 27 hours. Although the majority of the Budget was still passed without discussion, the Demands for Grants of several ministries were taken up individually, a major improvement from the 2023-24 Budget, when not a single one was. Happily, no MP was suspended, though it is unfortunate that several members, particularly in the Upper House, were threatened with the same.
By contrast, the term of the 17th Lok Sabha was marked by the most egregious assaults on parliamentary democracy that India has seen. In the Winter Session of 2023, 146 Opposition MPs were suspended for questioning the government on the security breach in the Lower House and farmer-related issues. Only a few months prior, a Member belonging to the ruling party escaped even the mildest of reproofs for subjecting a fellow MP to communal slurs. With nearly two-thirds of the Opposition absent, several important bills, including the three new criminal laws, were passed with little meaningful debate.
While its penultimate session before the elections saw Parliament’s dysfunction reach its nadir, this was merely a culmination of the deterioration of the legislature in the preceding five years. Of the 172 bills that were passed by both Houses between 2019 and 2024, nearly half were discussed for less than two hours. The proportion of bills referred to Committees decreased from 71 per cent during the 15th Lok Sabha to 16 per cent during the 17th Lok Sabha.
Yet, if this session of Parliament has been far more democratic and conducive to productive debate than the last, it is because the Opposition’s numerical strength has allowed it to wrest the power it is due as the voice of the people of India.
As far as the government’s own initiatives towards restoring the lost dignity of Parliament are concerned, they are as superficial as the Union Budget’s politically-motivated agenda.
Perhaps its most unparliamentary act has been its continued tendency to leak bills, particularly those on contentious issues, for political narrative building, before they are officially made available to MPs themselves. This session, the press got hold of details of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill days before it was circulated among MPs, even though the Budget Session was in full swing at the time. The introduction of the Bill was opposed by myself and dozens of other MPs, including certain allies of the BJP, which resulted in it being referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee. It is sad that the examination of bills by committees, once a routine procedure, is now only conducted when the government believes that it will not be able to bulldoze them through the Parliament. The consultation process for the Broadcasting Regulation Bill, another transformative piece of legislation that would have far-reaching consequences for “broadcasters” — a category that, according to the Bill’s definition, includes everyone from OTT platforms to social media content creators — has been similarly opaque.
The NDA government has also patently ignored the INDIA bloc’s call to reserve one day each week to discuss an agenda proposed by the Opposition and four hours per week for matters of urgent public importance. Many of us have found ourselves unable to raise issues crucial to our constituencies due to a paucity of time. When we have attempted to discuss matters of national importance, such as irregularities in the NEET examination, we have been shut down.
The post of the Deputy Speaker, which has traditionally been occupied by an MP who does not belong to the ruling party, was left vacant during the entirety of the 17th Lok Sabha. It was widely anticipated that this session, the government would make a return to parliamentary tradition and elect a Deputy Speaker. The fact that it has not yet done so, is a sad indication that the government intends to continue to sideline the Opposition’s concerns.
The manner in which Parliament is covered by the media and made accessible to those who elected it is perhaps even more restricted now. The visual of journalists crowded into a glass enclosure away from the business of the Parliament is not one that will be forgotten easily. It all reeks of a larger plan to let go of the tradition of Parliament that allowed the media, and by extension the people of India to be participants in the legislative process, not just distant observers.
Unfortunately, the story outside Parliament is no different; be it suppressing the voice of protesters demanding justice for assault against schoolgirls by mass registering FIRs or by shutting down the internet in violation of personal liberty, the goal remains to curb dissent and information. However, one can hit the snooze button for only so long.
The writer is Member of Parliament, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar)
