Vice-President Hamid Ansari, who is also Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, has regretted the proclivity of MPs to not give Question Hour its due importance in order to usurp the stage to make political noise.
He had done so in 2010 as well. And now the Chairman has had to return to the theme just two years later. This is a sad comment on how little members of even the House of Elders care for its work.
Question Hour is set aside for MPs to grill the government. They send in questions and ministers offer written and oral replies on the floor of the House. In Westminster-style democracies, MPs have jealously guarded this right to interrogate ministers.
In 2010, Mr Ansari had the start of the hallowed Question Hour moved from the traditional 11 am slot to 2 pm. It was thought then that when proceedings begin MPs may wish to unload their political agenda first, but get on to more fruitful activity afterwards. The presiding officer was subsequently persuaded to return to the original scheduling. But now Mr Ansari has pitched for either again moving Question Hour forward or scrapping it altogether if MPs are not interested. If the latter happens, a rare privilege to question the government on behalf of the people will be surrendered only because MPs can’t have enough of political grandstanding.