Book Extract: An Ode to Parliament

Ensconced between the two Houses—the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha—the Central Hall opened along with the rest of the magnificent Parliament building in January 1927. It was originally used as a library till 1946, when it was converted and refurbished into the Constituent Assembly hall. It was used to hold joint sittings of both the Houses and addresses by the President after a general election and the opening ceremony for new sessions.

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Unlike inside the chambers of both the Houses, the seating arrangement in the Central Hall was random—anyone could sit anywhere. […] This fluid seating arrangement allowed for opportunities to break the ice and barriers whenever there was an adjournment and scheduled lunch breaks between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. on all working days.

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Genial camaraderie is a basic element in parliamentary democracy. This is quite evident when members stroll into the Central Hall… [The] Central Hall is almost houseful when both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha are adjourned simultaneously for an hour or so.

This provides an opportunity for members to catch up and share political or personal news with each other—distributing mithai for births in the family, handing out wedding cards, conveying condolences, updating phone books and more. [...] The Central Hall is sleepy when Parliament is not in session. So, all the action and animated discussions take place for only about 70-75 days a year.

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Nostalgia, they say, is a middle-aged illness, inevitable in my case as far as the Central Hall is concerned. I have gathered many a fond memory from the moments spent by the polished wooden desks there. In fact, my most joyous times in Parliament have been spent in this hall. It wasn’t the snack or the beverage, it was the fellowship, the friendship, the bonding and the decency. Have things changed? Has the joie de vivre diminished? Has rivalry between individuals with different ideologies turned to enmity? Do we need to bring back some of that spirit of camaraderie to Parliament?

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In the spirit of what the Central Hall means to Parliament and indeed to our parliamentary democracy, let me quote what a political rival (yes, rival, not enemy), CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, said: “[...] I find it impermissible that… that there will be no Central Hall in the new Parliament building. [...] I cannot conceive of Parliament without the Central Hall.”

The Central Hall, or something similar, is indeed a necessity. Of all the assembly points, it is the most agreeable, the most amiable, the most chilled out. When you go into the chambers of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, the House is in session. It’s serious business. When you spend time in your party office in Parliament, chances are you will only bump into colleagues from your own party.

When you go to the library, you browse, you read in silence. So, to mingle, catch up, share thoughts and for gupshup, nothing beats the Central Hall. This rendezvous point has given us so many random memories to pack into our fake-leather laptop bags.

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When PM Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, he knelt… on the steps of the “temple of democracy”. However, the Union government has worked overtime to desecrate [the] temple. From pre-legislative consultation and scrutiny of bills by parliamentary committees, to the running of the House and rights guaranteed to members, every rule, every convention and almost every precedent has been flushed down the toilet.

It is important to understand how a bill is introduced in either House of Parliament. There is a pre-legislative consultative mechanism for ministries to publicise the draft legislations and seek comments from various stakeholders and the public at large. Bills then go on to be approved by the Cabinet. Here is a startling statistic.

During the 17th Lok Sabha (June 2019 to the present), 115 bills were introduced in Parliament, of which 85 saw no consultation prior to introduction. Almost nine out of 10 bills introduced in Parliament during Modi’s tenure have been marked by zero or incomplete consultations.

Among the most glaring examples of this were the three anti-farmer laws… where this pre-legislative consultation process was not followed. There’s sound logic for having this consultative system. Parliament sits for a limited number of days each year. Therefore, it is not possible for the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to look at the minutiae of each bill while in session. That is why we have parliamentary committees to take up important bills and examine them in detail.

What is the record of this government regarding scrutiny of bills? In the 14th Lok Sabha, 60 per cent of bills were sent to various committees for scrutiny; in the 15th Lok Sabha, it was 71 per cent. This figure fell alarmingly in the 16th Lok Sabha to about 26 per cent. Now, in the 17th Lok Sabha, only about one out of 10 bills has been sent for scrutiny. Horrific!

This government seems intent on trampling upon and destroying every parliamentary convention, procedure, rule and device in its desperate search for totalitarian political dominance.

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Now, let’s come to what happens inside the House. Members of Parliament (MPs) have certain privileges. They can submit notices and invoke various rules when they want to raise important issues and get their voices heard. Here are some examples of how these privileges have been curbed:

Special Mentions: Where a member may mention a matter of public importance in the Rajya Sabha. The number of Special Mentions went down by almost 20 per cent, from 4.7 per session during 2009-14 to 3.9 per session during 2014-19.

Calling Attention: Where a member may call the attention of a minister to any matter of urgent public importance. The number of motions was down 45 per cent, from 40 during 2009-14 to just 22 during 2014-19. It has got worse in the last few years.

Rule 267: Where a member can ask for the business listed at a specific hour to be suspended and raise a matter of urgent public importance. During the entire term of former Vice President Venkaiah Naidu as chairman of the Rajya Sabha, not a single discussion under Rule 267 took place on the floor of the House. (Those in the know suggest that ‘instructions’ for all this come directly from the duo at the top.)

There are more examples of how Parliament is being undermined. When a bill eventually comes to the stage of being passed, every MP has an absolute right to ask for a vote by division (electronic vote). The three draconian anti-farmer laws were passed by voice vote in the Rajya Sabha. Several members, including me, sought a vote by division

but were denied this right. (There is enough written documentation and video footage as evidence). Nothing matters. Who cares about Parliament.

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I do not know whether to be angry or sad. The hallowed institution of Parliament is being denigrated every week, every session, every year. The situation is alarming, not just for parliamentarians but for every Indian citizen. This is not just an attack on Parliament, it is a brazen assault on the Constitution of India. Yes, PM Modi knelt, and touched the steps to Parliament with his forehead, but it has not taken him long to bring this great institution to its knees.