Parliamentary disruption over demonetisation is a waste of tax payer’s money
Three weeks into the winter session, neither House of the Parliament has conducted any meaningful business as protests over demonetisation continue to disrupt proceedings.
Representing the Opposition, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi stated, “This is not a bold decision, it is a foolish decision which has been taken without any due consideration. It has devastated poor, farmers, daily wage workers. We want to have a discussion. We want a vote, government doesn't. PM's narrative has changed; started by saying it’s against black money, then terrorism, then counterfeit currency and later cashless economy.”
What Gandhi is trying to say is that since November 8, when PM Modi announced the demonetisation move, the government has been changing its narrative.
In much the same manner, the ruling BJP says that the Opposition has changed its goal post. It says that the Opposition first demanded that the PM address the Parliament, but when he was present, it wanted him to participate in the debate — and is now demanding an apology from the PM for stating that “the government did not give any time to them to undertake any preparation (to convert black money into white)”.
The BJP parliamentary party again passed a resolution condemning the Opposition parties for "shifting goal posts" on demonetisation.
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| Our parliamentarians have wasted our hard earned money and continue to fail the parliamentary democracy. |
Union parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar indicated that the prime minister is willing to speak in both Houses of Parliament "but they [the opposition] keep changing the goal posts."
“The Prime Minister thanked the 125 crore people of the country for supporting him. The way the Opposition parties are trying to change the goal post and disrupt Parliament is undemocratic,” said Kumar.
The impasse in Parliament over the issue of demonetisation escalated when BJP leader LK Advani openly criticised Union parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar and Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan for failing to end the stalemate. The imminent problem facing the BJP is that the Opposition might use Advani's statement to target the government and go to town claiming that the Modi government is to blame for the deadlock in Parliament.
The Lok Sabha witnessed a climb-down by the Congress, which was earlier insistent in its demand for a discussion under Rule 56 (adjournment motion, which is a sort of censure motion and is taken up adjourning the entire business of the House).
The grand old party is now asking for a discussion under Rule 184, which entails only voting and no censure. It wants the Modi government too to drop its rigid stand of allowing the discussion on demonetisation only under Rule 193, a short duration debate.
The onus is now on the government to help break the deadlock and resume the parliamentary process, but there is no sign of the government accepting the Opposition's offer.
In Rajya Sabha, the leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said: “Let the government come forward with a suggestion. We can consider it. But the problem is the government is behaving like the Opposition. It doesn’t seem interested in running Parliament. The PM is happier making policy announcements outside even while Parliament is in session.”
The Opposition demand is not without reason. Let us recall that on May 20, 2014, Narendra Modi — as PM designate — delivered a rather emotional speech at the Central Hall of Parliament, emphasising thus: “Parliament is a temple of democracy and the elected representatives would collectively and piously work not for position or power but for the good of the people."
However, two-and-a half years later, he seems to have forgotten his own speech. The PM has talked about the demonetisation move outside Parliament at various platforms, but he is not ready to speak and participate in the debate in the Parliament, which he considers a “temple of democracy”.
Incidentally, since the move was brought into force by his government, PM Modi has spoken about demonetisation five times during his speeches at Goa, New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
BJP’s justification of disruption:
The NDA is perturbed over the Opposition — especially the Congress — not allowing the House to function. But, during the UPA regime, it was BJP's tall leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj who had led the then Opposition’s offensive over various issues, and justified the disruption of Parliament:
Sushma Swaraj (On September 7, 2012; at end of monsoon session disrupted over the coal allocation scam debate):
“Not allowing Parliament to function is a form of democracy like any other form..."
Arun Jaitley (As quoted by the ANI at Ranchi on January 30, 2011):
“Parliament’s job is to conduct discussions. But many a time, Parliament is used to ignore issues and in such situations, obstruction of Parliament is in the favour of democracy. Therefore, parliamentary obstruction is not undemocratic.”
Arun Jaitley (On August 26, 2012, outside Parliament):
“There are occasions when obstruction in Parliament brings greater benefits to the country. Our strategy does not permit us to allow the government to use Parliament (for debate) without being held accountable... we do not want to give the government an escape route through debate.”
It was Swaraj who, in 2005, wanted the Parliament to stop its proceedings and demanded that an FIR be filed against the then external affairs minister Natwar Singh owing to his family’s alleged involvement in the oil-for-food scam in Iraq.
Yet again, in February 2014 (during the UPA II regime), Swaraj justified the unceasing acrimony created by her party in the Parliament: “This government had so many scams, a new one came up in the interval of every session. The government wanted us to set them aside and let the parliament go on... But we had to stall the Parliament to expose the government and its corruption.”
Suffice to say that the BJP cannot claim the moral high ground and blame the Congress for the disruption of the House because it has itself lowered the bar for legislative disruption, when it was in the Opposition.
Bitter taste of Congress' own medicine
Even the President is anguished over the parliamentary stalemate, and has ordered the MPs to “do their job” instead of indulging in sloganeering and protests.
On the day he announced the demonetisation drive as well as on various forums, PM Modi has appealed to citizens that they bear the inconvenience for 50 days and if things do not return to normal, he is to blame.
But the Congress says that it is not disrupting the Parliament, rather simply demanding a debate for people who are suffering. Isn’t it a preposterous statement to make?
Secondly, the Congress-led the Opposition is demanding a JPC probe alleging there was selective leak of information when it came to the demonetisation drive. But when it was in power, the Congress resisted the demand for a JPC probe in the 2G –scam. Isn’t it Congress' political expediency and opportunism?
Let me quote the statement made by former PM Manmohan Singh on September 7, 2012 when BJP disrupted the House over the CAG report on coalgate issue: "The Opposition chose not to take advantage of the subtle institutional practices dealing with the reports of CAG and insisted on disrupting Parliament. This is negation of democracy.If this thought process is allowed to gain momentum it will be a grave violation of Parliamentary politics as we have understood."
To this, the then leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj responded by saying: "I would like to remind the PM, when he was leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, they had stalled parliament over the Tehelka issue. Even over the coffin scam, they stalled parliament and called us coffin thieves."
Fast-forward to 2015. Congress' Digvijay Singh said "Arun Jaitley ji, we have learnt Parliamentary Practice of Disruption of Proceedings from you. Didn't you tell us it is fully Legitimate?" Where will it end, and doesn't it show that disruption is just a revenge of old grudge by Congress Party?
On August 7, 2015, when Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 25 Congress MPs on the charge of disrupting the House, the Congress party called it a "black day for democracy". At least they should have honoured the words of their own prime minister who had said that parliamentary disruption is a negation of democracy and a grave violation of parliamentary politics.
Again, the Opposition’s stand on the demonetisation drive reflects that they are opposing it for the heck of it. Right from the start, various Opposition parties have had their own stand on demonetisation move. While SP, BSP, TMC and AAP have been against demonetisation, the Congress, AIADMK, DMK, RJD, NCP and the Left have been against poor implementation.
Time lost in pandemonium has increased successively over each Lok Sabha.
- 11th LOK SABHA (1996-98): 5.3 per cent:
- 12th LOK SABHA (1998): 10.7 per cent
- 13th LOK SABHA (1999-2004): 22.4 per cent
- 14th LOK SABHA (2004-09): 22 per cent
- 15th LOK SABHA (2009-14): 28 per cent
Productivity of Lok Sabha
- 11th LOK SABHA and 10TH LOK SABHAS utilised over 100 per cent of the time
- 12th LOK SABHA IN 1998-99: 109 per cent
- 13th LOK SABHA (1999 TO 2004): 91 per cent
- 14th LOK SABHA (2004 TO 2009): 87 per cent
- 15th LOK SABHA (2009-14): sat for only 72 per cent of its work hours and entering history books as the most disrupted.
Cost of running Parliament
According to government estimates recorded in 2012, the cost of running the Lok Sabha is Rs 2.5 lakh per minute, which translates to Rs 1.5 crore per hour and Rs 9 crore per day, keeping in mind the fact that Lok Sabha usually works for 6 hours a day.
The Rajya Sabha normally works for five hours a day. The cost of running Rajya Sabha is estimated to be Rs 1.1 crore per hour, which makes it Rs 5.5 crore per day.
Therefore, on any particular day, when no business is transacted in the Parliament, Rs 2.6 crore is lost per hour and Rs 14.5 crore is lost per day. Even a modest calculation would establish that Rs 247 crore has been lost in just three weeks during the winter session — a colossal plunder of tax payers’ money.
Our parliamentarians have wasted our hard earned money and continue to fail the parliamentary democracy. Both the Opposition and the government should be made accountable for this waste of time and money, because every party changes its stance once it is in power. This is nothing but political expediency and opportunism.