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New Delhi: Has the
quality of debates in parliament declined over the decades and is
politics no longer a mission to serve the people? Are MPs
adequately fulfilling their role in the highest forum of
democracy? Analysts and lawmakers say the atmosphere in parliament
has become more fractious over the years, with issues concerning
states and sectional interests rather than broad legislative
issues often driving its agenda.
Parliament will Sunday observe the 60th anniversary of the first
sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Senior politicians
fondly recall the days when disruptions were infrequent and
ruckus, sloganeering and rancour were almost unheard of.
Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Virbhadra Singh
said disruptions in parliament are much more frequent now.
"Disruptions on small issues never happened earlier. They
(members) strongly expressed their differences of opinion but
there was hardly an occasion when parliament was disrupted. Now
this is the rule rather than the exception," Virbhadra Singh told
IANS.
A five-time chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and a five-time MP,
Virbhadra Singh said parliament had many stalwarts when he became
an MP for the first time in 1962.
He termed the 60th anniversary of parliament's first sitting "a
very proud moment".
"There have been ups and downs but by and large the parliamentary
system has come to stay and has consolidated in the last 60
years," he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sumitra Mahajan said members in
earlier decades reflected a national view in their thinking.
"They had a pan-India approach to issues. Now state perspective
has become more pronounced," she said.
Mahajan, into her seventh term as a Lok Sabha member, said there
was respect for senior leaders in the past. If any of them stood
up to speak, members would listen without creating a disturbance.
These included Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Chandra Shekhar. "In later
days, even Atalji had to face disturbances."
Mahajan said a positive aspect of present-day politics was that
more youths were being elected to parliament.
Political analyst S. Nihal Singh said the standard of debates in
the earlier decades of parliament was very high.
"There is much less real debate now, much more of noise and
disturbance."
Nihal Singh said there was less respect for parliamentary
democracy though everybody swears by it, adding that the frequent
disruptions were a waste of public money.
"Earlier, there was much more tolerance of other viewpoints."
Former Lok Sabha secretary general Subash C. Kashyap said the
composition of parliament was also a reflection of the moorings of
society.
"They (MPs) are representatives of people that we are... Of our
weaknesses, our culture, sense of values, our indiscipline... If
there is indiscipline in society, it is bound to be reflected."
He said in earlier years, lawyers formed the largest group of Lok
Sabha members. For some time now, iy idthe largest group is of
agriculturists. In that sense, there is a fundamental shift," he
said.
Kashyap said there was more discussion on international affairs
when Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime minister.
"Now local and regional issues which should be taken up in state
legislatures are taken up in parliament."
According to PRS legislative Research, a think tank that tracks
work of parliament, there has been a significant change in profile
of MPs over the years.
The percentage of MPs without secondary education has fallen from
23 percent in 1952 to 3 percent in 2009. There has been a
noticeable shift in the age profile of MPs too.
In 1952, only 20 percent of MPs were 56 years or older. In 2009,
this has zoomed to 43 percent, said Devika Malik of PRS
Legislative Research.
The first Lok Sabha passed an average of 72 bills each year, and
this has decreased to 40 bills in the 15th Lok Sabha.
Congress Rajya Sabha member Mohsina Kidwai said there was more
dignity, decorum and discipline in parliament than in earlier
decades.
She said members then spoke as representatives of the country.
Former Rajya Sabha chairperson Najma Heptulla said there were
fewer disruptions in the earlier years.
Heptulla, into her sixth term, said many of the parliamentarians
in the first few years after independence were freedom fighters.
Values and issues have changed over the years, she lamented.
(Prashant Sood can be
contacted at prashant.s@ians.in)
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