The Budget session of the parliament has highlighted the serious challenge that the Indian democracy is currently facing.
Significantly, even a “No-Confidence Motion” couldn’t be taken up.
What were the outcomes of the Budget session?
Both houses of the parliament closed on April 6th, with very little business transacted in the entire session that saw vociferous protests.
Productivity was less than 10% of the total time, with about 120 hours being lost due to disruptions and just 5 of the 419 starred questions being taken up.
Among the long list of pending Bills, “Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill, 2017”, was the only one passed by both houses.
While it was just that one bill for the Rajya Sabha, Lok sabha passed three other budget related bills - Financial Bill 2018, and two appropriation bills.
These were money bills that only needed Lok Sabha approval and sailed through only because the BJP alliance has the numbers in the lower house.
Notably, the budget was guillotined early (citing protests), which left little scope for substantive debate (in violation of established norms).
What are the larger implications?
Beyond mere numbers, the quality of interactions that took place is what has damaged India’s democracy more than anything else.
Glaringly, the Lok Sabha Speaker failed to take up a “No-Confidence Motion” (NCM) citing protests, which is a shocking precedent like never before.
She could’ve used her powers to suspend unruly MPs (mostly AIADMK members) to ensure that the all important NCM is taken up.
But her intentional inaction has raised doubts on the tacit government support for the AIADMK MPs to sabotage the proceedings to suppress the NCM.
While Modi government’s majority is not in doubt, a future government might use the same route to cling on to power, which is dangerous for the democracy.
How does the future look?
Some ruling party MPs have proposed to forgo their salaries as gesture of regret for the session’s washout - which is noble but misleading.
Notably, while the ruling coalition has conveniently blamed the opposition for the crisis, government too has played an important role in the stand-off.
A special session before the monsoon session to finish pending business has been mooted, but uncertainty over further sabotage remains.
The parliamentary system’s fairness has taken a server beating and is need of a strong revival for safeguarding the vibrancy of our democracy.
