Democracy is a wonderful contradiction in itself, especially in India. When Narendra Modi formed the government, the first majority government after the landslide victory of Rajiv Gandhi led congress post Indira Gandhi’s assassination, it was greeted with much cheers expecting the days of the leading party of government blackmailed by coalition partners was over. Given the personality of Modi and the majority he got from the public it was expected from him that many a reforms would be seen in the next five years steadying the growth of India and India becoming really something in the global arena that reflects its population.
Alas, it took only few sessions of parliament that made the people of India realise that their votes are simply – nothing, but a waste given the way our system was designed and run. Despite many attempts, no major reforms could take place, including the Congress drafted GST bill. Forget the law making and passage of bills, the parliament never functioned the way it is supposed to.
Monsoon session was hijacked by congress when they claimed Sushma Swaraj helped Lalit Modi to renew his passport, while the then UPA government never bothered even to issue a red corner notice against him. I wonder, why Sonia Gandhi and her cronies could recall one of their brethren Madhavsinh Solanki handing over a letter to Swiss government that Indian government doesn’t treat Bofors scandal on priority – and not strangely, Solanki didn’t remember who gave him the letter. But, Sonia wants resignation from Sushma Swaraj for helping an absconder – with whom Rahul Gandhi enjoys watching cricket. Almost same allegations were made against Vasundhara Raje. Targeting both ladies from the BJP, Congress want their resignations before they let the government do its job.
Same with Shivraj Singh Chouhan, whose resignation was sought over the Vyapam scam. And Gulam Nabi Azad and Digvijay Singh could never explain why their government could not order a CBI probe, when they were in power. Unless Shivraj is resigned, parliament will not function – this is their dictum.
It appears something is there in the weather of Delhi, for when the parliament is not scheduled, Congress leaders go into hibernation – forgetting their own demands. Why there was no sustained campaign if really Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan are indeed committed that they should never hanve done? Why the Congress leadership with a battery of lawyers as its members, who plead in the courts defending its first family could not file a single case against any of these members?
Either the allegations were false and could not be sustained in legal scrutiny or the Congress leaders knew their own lawyers are not up to the mark to win these cases. Or did they demand an exorbitant fee from the party to which they were loyal servants?
Forget the monsoon session that already became history. The current winter session of parliament, despite the assurance by the Prince Cunning that GST Bill would be passed, if their suggestions were considered by the Government, was a disaster. First, Rahul wants the government to reach the opposition, as if there is no role for the opposition to play in the governance. And what gave confidence to a leader whose party failed even to win ten percent of the seats in general elections, so that they can have the constitutional position called – Leader of Opposition? It is the architecture of Indian democracy that was simply copied from the British one, long before Bill Gates popularised Ctrl+C & Ctrl+V.
Evolving democracies have already started modifying themselves and reduce the say of the nominated members over the function of the government. The adamant attitude shown by the Congress has only proven the fact that even as they ruled the country for more than sixty years, they ensured that the democracy has not evolved much, despite overall evolution of people’s outlook and convictions.
So, when the winter session is scheduled, the Government started pleasing the opposition that has majority in the Rajya Sabha, by default for their erstwhile majority in states.
Then came the odd ball bowled by Subramanian Swamy, played straight by the high court into the hands of congress and all hell broke loose. The party that has an intrinsic abhorrence to judiciary could not digest the fact that their leaders were summoned by the court. The irony is there was a time, when members of congress party were produced in courts at a regular frequency and were jailed without proper trial for years. Of course, they were fighting to free the nation from the clutches of the British. The only time when a congress leader was pronounced guilty by a court, the nation was forced to have declared emergency, a term congress leaders use a lot with a prefix- undeclared.
Shocked and terrified at the court’s direction to be present in the court, congress was confused and did what it could do best. To hold the other estate of democracy, the parliament for ransom. How dare the government to insinuate charges against the congress, when the first family takes over real estate worth few thousand crores, from the congress. They are synonymous with the party and they can do whatever they want.
Forget the lack of respect, the Congress doesn’t want to recognise the important estate of democracy – the judiciary. It took some time for them to regain senses and formulate a strategy to tackle the summons. Someone in Congress had still his senses functioning, because they applied for and got bail – unlike the histrionics of Arvind Kejriwal that were subdued by higher judiciary. Congress declared that it will fight legal battle in court and political one in streets. Fine. It should be so. Then why the hell, they don’t allow the parliament to function?
Don’t give me the reason of the acts of Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, who at the best was simply following the policies established by his predecessors from Congress party. No, I don’t back the actions of Arunachal Pradesh governor, if he was bifurcating the congress there. But, if congress itself mutate into two sections and the speaker abuses the other faction by suspending them ‘en masse’, don’t they expect the governor to uphold the rule of law?
Finally, they agreed to pass few bills on Wednesday, wait for a minute – excluding the GST bill. It is not which bill is being passed and which is not? It is the way they are being passed. If these bills need only one day of session to get passed, why the session should be scheduled for so many weeks? Are they not supposed to discuss and debate these bills, detailing the pros and cons and then vote?
With the amount of money wasted to conduct one parliament session, which in fact runs only for a day or two, how many kilometres of roads or how many hospitals, schools can be built? I forgot – we need many courts in the country to tackle the pending cases.
Now, it is high time for Subramanian Swamy to file a PIL in Supreme Court to evaluate the need of Rajya Sabha or the need for any bill to route through it. Also there can be an annexure that directs all members to participate in the proceedings of parliament and earn their salaries and perks. What the people will learn from such leaders who take money for not doing their duty? Come on Subbu, take up this case.
