Are the Days of Disdainful Treatment of the Opposition in Parliament Behind Us?

With the dawn of a new political reality, following the Lok Sabha results, the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will have to make room for compromises and adjustments. Given the manner in which Modi has ruled over the last 10 years, this could prove to be a difficult task for the new government. Due to the unity and increase in the strength of the Opposition, it may not be possible anymore for the treasury benches in the parliament to treat them with disdain.

The arrogance of the BJP was on full display in the manner in which the affairs of the last two parliaments, and more pronouncedly in the just concluded 17th parliament, were conducted. The arrogance emanated from the fact that the BJP had an invincible majority and it did not think coordination with the opposition was needed. Floor management was something that the BJP never bothered about in the last 10 years in power. They were focussed only on getting their way without concern for parliamentary customs and decency even if it meant instigating disruptions and walkouts by the Opposition to ensure the passing of Bills which had wider ramifications without discussions. Such instigation often occurred in the shape of some or the other policy pronouncement just before the beginning of the session or sometimes during the session too.

The BJP at the pinnacle of its power forgot what its leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj had once said about disruption being a genuine parliamentary practice. Repeated censuring and expulsion of opposition parliamentarians were a common sight culminating in expulsion and/or suspension of opposition MPs on 206 instances, across both Houses of parliament. In the Winter Session 2023, as many as 146 MPs were suspended in one go citing serious misconduct on their part. Several key legislations like the new Bills to reform criminal laws were passed without any discussion after MPs were suspended.

The treasury benches ensured that the 17th Lok Sabha ended with the dubious distinction of not electing a deputy speaker through its entire term even though Article 93 of the constitution requires that Lok Sabha elect a speaker and a deputy speaker ‘as soon as may be’.

Various parameters of the performance of the parliament during the last 10 years are a pointer to the severity of the hiatus between the treasury and opposition benches. For example, the entire annual budget on two occasions in 2018 and 2023 was passed without any discussions at all. Not only this, 80% of the budget proposals in the last Lok Sabha between 2019 and 2023 were voted on without any discussion. During the 17th Lok Sabha, Question Hour functioned only for 60% of the scheduled time. It was even lower at 52% for Rajya Sabha. Only 24% of the questions listed for oral response were answered by ministers in the House in Lok Sabha, and 31% in Rajya Sabha. Not a single adjournment motion, which is an important mechanism to draw the attention of the House to a definite matter of urgent public importance, was allowed during the entire period of ten years.

Many Bills of wide public importance were introduced and passed without discussions or referral to the parliamentary committees. For example, the J&K Reorganisation Bill, 2019; the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023; the Digital Data Protection Bill, 2023; and three Farm laws were passed without referral to committees for detailed scrutiny. Only about 16% of the Bills were referred to such committees. Resultant lack of discussion and inputs from differing points of view resulted in laws, like the farm laws, had to be repealed. Even the new Criminal laws faced a lot of resistance from truckers and the government had to suspend the implementation of the particular section which affected them.

Actions of the speaker in Lok Sabha and chairman of Rajya Sabha who are supposed to not have any affiliation with any political party appeared partisan even to a common man. This was evident in the prompt suspension of Rahul Gandhi without waiting for the appeal process to be finalised. A similar partisan attitude was apparent in the delay in restoring the membership of the MP from Lakshadweep even after the courts had ruled in his favour. Similarly, proceedings leading to the termination of the membership of Mahua Moitra from Lok Sabha are shrouded in mystery and await legal pronouncement on the plea of Moitra. On the other hand, no action was initiated against BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri who openly used slurs and un-parliamentary language against Danish Ali, an MP, belonging to the opposition.

Also read: Parliament Today a Pale Shadow of What it Used to Be, Executive No Longer Accountable to It

The presiding officers of both Houses more often than not looked the other way when the treasury members resorted to repeated interruption of speeches by opposition MPs. On the contrary, even a genuine point of order by opposition MPs when a ruling party MP was speaking invited censure and even suspension or expulsion.

The presiding officers were prompt in removing even innocuous statements by Opposition MPs from parliamentary records. Almost half of the speech by the leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha was removed from the records. Kharge at one point was so frustrated that he was compelled to protest at the running commentary by the chairman of Rajya Sabha as it was affecting the flow of his thoughts. Switching off the mikes of opposition MPs and cameras not focusing on them while they were speaking were perhaps some other novel practices adopted for the first time in the parliament. The apparent injustice and partisanship of these acts were not lost on the common man who chose the ballot to put restrictions on these tendencies that clearly bordered on dictatorial.

Floor management to break the impasse in parliament is the responsibility of the treasury minister for parliamentary affairs. However, on many occasions, they were more often than not seen joining the treasury benches to hoot the opposition and thus add fuel to the fire leading to further chaos. However, the lack of a clear majority appears to have softened the attitude in BJP ranks and brought them face-to-face with reality.

No wonder then to find Ram Madhav, the RSS thinker who was on loan to BJP, in his piece in The Indian Express dated June 8 advocating “greater accommodation and responsible politics from both sides”, pointed to the fact of a numerically larger opposition in the parliament. Madhav extolls the importance of good floor managers in the treasury benches “who can effortlessly sprint across the aisle to ensure smooth functioning of the House”. This was something which was beyond the realm of imagination if the BJP hadn’t been reduced to 240 seats. The realisation that they cannot now ignore the Opposition perhaps compelled the newly appointed minister for parliamentary affairs to call upon Congress president Kharge. The coalition Dharma will also compel the BJP to be more accommodative and hopefully lead to better functioning and constructive discussions in the Parliament.

In this context, the advice of RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat asking the BJP to shed arrogance and not treat the opposition as an enemy because all of them have the betterment of the country at heart is sane advice that should have come from him much earlier.

Hope better sense will prevail and the quality of discourse in the parliament will once again touch the high standards that it used to witness in the past. It is my fond hope that the Prime Minister too gives more importance to the parliament and participates in the proceedings more often, rather than making an occasional visit.

Sanjiv Krishan Sood retired as additional director general of the Border Security Force.