The newfound ways of the NDA government in governance are increasingly getting mapped away from the precincts of the Rajya Sabha. It has navigated a new course away from the Upper House, by moves such as legislating Aadhaar to demonetisation to GST enabling bills in this manner. It is packaging contentious proposals in ‘Money Bill’ packages and even shifting the scene of indoor action scene from the floor of the House, to the doorstep of the Governor, forgetting how the makers of our Constitution had carefully thought of checks and balances by placing the centricity of the Upper House in the political ecosystem.
Look at the U.S. where its most powerful executive, the President, can pass executive orders at will. Yet its stable constitutional institutions hold him in check every time. This government’s misplaced emphasis on short-term political/economic/social objectives are perhaps being insidiously allowed to come into effect at the expense of eroding the foundations of nation’s well laid down political tenets and philosophy.
R .Narayanan,
Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh
