Parliament is halfway through the monsoon session, and the government-opposition deadlock persists. The Bharatiya Janata Party has not conceded the demand for the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, both for their controversial role in the Lalit Modi travel documents saga, and of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan, embroiled in the deadly Vyapam scandal. It seems to believe that doing so would amount to an admission of guilt and weakness. The opposition, particularly the Congress and the Left parties, remains adamant that their resignations should precede any discussion. Thus far there has been little effort by the government to engage the opposition, barring a half-hearted effort by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to call some leaders for a meeting; but that ended in a boycott. On Thursday, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan called an all-party meeting. But her objective was limited: to appeal to MPs not to enter the well of the House or display any placards. But going by what has happened since then, her request has not been heeded. However, the Speaker extracted a promise from Home Minister Rajnath Singh that an all-party meeting would be called: that is slated for Monday. But the Congress has clarified its participation would be contingent on Prime Minister Narendra Modi making a ‘tangible’ proposal to end the deadlock. The aggressive posture adopted by senior BJP Ministers on Sunday does not augur well for the meeting.
Clearly, the impasse must end: in the fortnight since the session started, not one law has been enacted. And one account suggests over Rs. 20 crore has been lost to the disruptions. The Congress seems to say it has taken its cue from the BJP’s disruptive tactics during the decade it led the United Progressive Alliance. But this is untenable, beyond a point. The government, on its part, has displayed arrogance in not reaching out, not even conceding the demand that the Prime Minister himself explain in Parliament why he is defending Ms. Swaraj, Ms. Raje and Mr. Chouhan. Parliament’s importance lies in its providing an institutionalised context for discussions by people who represent all sections. There is a greater legitimacy to their discussions than that of the many groups that have sprung up outside claiming that they represent the people. MPs elected to office, and Parliament, constitute a microcosm of the larger polity. It does not matter that politics is adversarial — that is how it should be. But slogan-shouting cannot be a substitute for substantive debates. If discussions do not take place in Parliament, MPs begin to cede space to non-parliamentary actors, vitiating the decision-making process. In the process, people could lose faith in parliamentary democracy itself. That will be a dangerous prospect indeed for India, and it is for MPs from across the political divide to make the needed change.
