The grammar of anarchy

The first four working days of the Winter Session of Parliament — out of total of only 21 — have been a woeful waste. Thanks to the apparently irremediable discord between the treasury and Opposition benches — especially between the Congress, the core of the ruling coalition, and the principal Opposition party, the BJP — which inevitably leads to all too frequent disruption of both Houses in a manner so unruly as to border on the rowdy.

Although this has gone on for nearly four decades — during his five-year tenure, the then Speaker Somnath Chatterjee went on warning recalcitrant MPs that they were destroying not just the dignity and authority of Parliament but democracy itself, but to no avail — this time around there was a departure from the established pattern that made last week’s developments all the more depressing.
After the two Houses had been adjourned without transacting any business on two successive days, a compromise was reached between the warring sides that should have paved the way for smooth running of the nation’s apex legislature. But that was not to be. For this there were two reasons.
First, the complexity of both the conflict and the compromise had seeds of trouble within it. The BJP and the Left Front are usually at odds with each other. But this time they were united in their determination to drive the Congress-led government to the wall. In rising prices and black money they had potent weapons but they disagreed on which weapon to use first. The Left argued, in my view correctly, that rising prices were of greater concern to the people and therefore its adjournment motion on this issue should be taken up first.
On the other hand, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani had a different idea. During his 32-day lacklustre Janchetna Yatra he had made the government’s failure or unwillingness to unearth hoards of black money stashed in foreign tax havens his main battle cry. He wanted his adjournment motion on black
money to be given precedence.
That was where the Congress Party’s own problems and tactics came in. Mightily scared of facing a vote on the issue of price rise, it offered to let the BJP table an adjournment motion on black money, provided the discussion on soaring prices took place under the rule that prohibits voting. This was clearly a measure of its self-doubt in its ability to muster a majority on this burning issue that torments not only the poor but also all except the super rich. Though clearly unhappy about it, the Left appeared to go along with the compromise.
Whether this fragile truce would have actually held on the floor of the two Houses would never be known. For on the third morning of the session a new storm over a totally different issue — the long-standing demand for a separate state of Telangana — burst and blew out all expectations of smooth functioning. Remarkably, Congress MPs from the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh joined hands with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi members to stall the proceedings.
Just as no objective whatsoever justifies terrorism, so nothing can lend legitimacy to the ugly spectacle of Parliament being prevented from doing its duty under the Constitution. Yet, in all fairness it must be conceded that most of the blame for the mounting anger over the Telangana issue lies on the shoulders of the Congress and the government it leads. Committed to the cause of Telangana since 2001, and having conceded the state in November 2009, only to backtrack within a fortnight, the Congress has since then been a prisoner of dithering and indecision.
In any case, the turmoil over Telangana, together with price rise and black money, was forgotten the next day. On day four the two Houses were forced to pack up because all hell had broken loose over the government’s overnight decision to allow 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail trade. The jolt to the government in this respect was and continues to be much stronger.
As events on Monday and Tuesday underscore, from now onwards FDI in retail trade will be the casus belli. The entire opposition is at one over this issue. The Congress’ allies in what is left of the United Progressive Alliance — the Trinamul Congress and the Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) — are also totally opposed to the entry of foreign retail chains in India. To cap it all, even within the Congress Party there is discontent with the decision that was pushed through the Cabinet despite resistance by such senior Congress ministers as A.K. Antony and Veerappa Moily.
It is time Parliament realised that it can neither revert to normal functioning nor regain the respect of the people that it has lost until both the majority and the minority return to upholding standards of the era when Jawaharlal Nehru could justifiably speak of the “majesty of Parliament”. The ruling majority’s view must prevail. But the weight of numbers must not crush parliamentary norms. The majority must treat the minority’s dissenting position with respect. For its part, the minority, while having its say in full and getting a vote on the floor whenever necessary, must accept the majority’s decision. Behind-the-scene consultations are of prime importance. But how can these take place when some leaders across the fence are barely on talking terms?
With the stock of all politicians abysmally low over the years, civil society “activists” of various types have created an atmosphere best symbolised by the slapping of Sharad Pawar, combined with Anna Hazare’s chilling question: “Only one slap?” Kiran Bedi’s tweet predicting greater violence against politicians if the Jan Lokpal was not passed as drafted by Team Anna speaks for itself.
Both the political class and civic society must know that the country is in dire danger of getting into the grip of what B.R. Ambedkar prophetically called the “Grammar of Anarchy”.