The manner in which Parliament has been functioning over the last few years may have elicited an unusual comment from the chairman of the Upper House, vice-president Hamid Ansari.
Whether his poser to the nation’s key legislators on whether they wished the House to become a federation of anarchists is too harsh or not, the fact remains that legislatures have become a source of cynicism for the common man because a third of the people’s representatives have criminal records.
President Pranab Mukherjee also made a valid point when he said in the course of his speech on the eve of Independence Day that legislatures have come to resemble combat arenas rather than forums that make laws after due debate and discussion ideally marked by the decorum expected of those elected to represent millions of Indians. Rather than be oversensitive to the semantics of how a leading question is posed about their obstructionist attitudes to the functioning of a vital arm of the nation, members would be well advised to correct their ways by changing their outlook.
It is another matter that the treasury benches are inclined to stonewall each time a scam erupts, which is also a primary cause of bedlam in the legislatures. The day informed debate takes place and national legislators do something worth applauding it would mark a welcome change from the existing anarchy.