The tactics of the BJP had little to do with anything happening inside Parliament. It was related to its long-term agenda to force general elections prematurely.
Parliamentary disruptions are not unknown in a democracy. These are usually a means to register protest on a measure being proposed by the government. In India, disturbances within the chambers of Parliament have also occurred on the basis of issues that are not under debate in either House but pertain to a matter that is said to be agitating the wider public. But these are typically of limited duration.
In the United States, in particular, “filibustering” is resorted to in the Senate when a speaker who has the floor goes on endlessly in order to prevent voting on a bill.
But in the just-ended Monsoon Session of Parliament, obstruction was raised to the level of ideology by the BJP, the main Opposition party, whose members would come to Parliament but create such a din as to make it impossible to carry on any business. This not only rendered impossible any legislative measure — initiated by the government — but also violated the rights and privileges of MPs of all other parties to represent their constituency in Parliament, the highest forum of democracy in India. It is this which makes the Monsoon Session, which ended its fruitless existence of four weeks on Friday, unique in the annals of our parliamentary life.
The tactics of the BJP had little to do with anything happening inside Parliament. It was related directly, instead, to its long-term political agenda to force general elections prematurely. As such, it is a fair expectation that the tactics will be continued in the Winter Session as well. In a pained observation, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar noted that “some forms of dissent” had left her “disturbed”. Only four bills out of the 34 on the table could be passed (naturally without any debate). Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appropriately called the Opposition-engineered prolonged disruption of four long weeks a “negation of democracy”.
What has come to be known as “Coalgate” is important for the entire country, not just the BJP. It deserved to be debated threadbare in both Houses so that people across the board are made familiar with the finer points of the policy of coal block allotments and its implementation. But in cynical pursuit of its political agenda, the lead Opposition party blocked any possibility of discussion, depriving the country of the opportunity of a fair and square articulation from all sides of the political spectrum. This is to be deeply regretted. Any repeat of such tactics is likely to create among the people not just wholesale disdain for all politicians and their politics, but also for the art of politics and the country’s democratic institutions. The contagion can then spread to state Assemblies and to representative forums lower down.
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