With the Modi Government issuing no fewer than eight ordinances in as many months, President Pranab Mukherjee has found it necessary to warn all concerned against ordinance raj. Indeed, after signing the first three ordinances, he had raised some questions with the government on the need for the fourth one that had descended on his desk. Thereafter, he used a video address to a higher education institution on the subject of ‘Parliament and Policymaking’ to slam the all-too-frequent recourse to ordinances. He underscored that ordinances were meant for a ‘specific purpose to meet an extraordinary situation under extraordinary circumstances.’
The Constitution conferred on the executive only limited powers to issue ordinances to meet exigencies and these are not to be used too often. However, being a veteran and an outstanding politician and parliamentarian, Mukherjee knows very well that one of the reasons why rule by ordinances becomes necessary is because of the almost daily disruption of Parliament that bars enactment of legislation. In fact, as leader of the House in the Lok Sabha from 2004 until his elevation to the presidency, he had to face this problem regularly. No wonder he was fed up with the regular obstruction to parliamentary work by the standard technique of shouting, screaming, and rushing lemming-like to the well of the House. Even so, in his latest statement he has criticised both the ugly distortions of democracy equally sharply.
A fairly large number of ordinances were issued also during the Nehru era, but never because of disrupted parliamentary proceedings. In fact, Jawaharlal Nehru could credibly talk of the “majesty of Parliament”, and foreign experts like W. H. Morris-James could describe Indian Parliament as a “role model” for other countries freeing themselves from the colonial yoke.
Unfortunately, the menace of not allowing Parliament to conduct any business began after 1971 when Indira Gandhi was supreme, having won a two-thirds majority in both Houses of Parliament. Many of her henchmen thought that they had got a licence to make money and started acting accordingly. The small and divided Opposition did try to raise this issue in Parliament but she allowed her party to stonewall. This was so because the culprits always told her: “Madam, this is not an attack on us, it is really an attack on you.” I wonder how many people still remember Tulmohanram, who was an entirely inconsequential Congress MP from Bihar. The only mistake he made was meekly to sign some papers at the behest of some of his political bosses, who later used these for a lucrative scam in far-away Pondicherry (now Puducherry). Yet the Tulmohanram case became the first to cause the disruption of an entire session of Parliament.
At one stage, Morarji Desai threatened to sit on a dharna inside the House. In all fairness, it must be stated that for lowering Parliament’s prestige and efficacy, the two mainstream parties, the Congress and the BJP, are equally responsible.
Forward to 2004 when the BJP, having ruled the country for six years, was confident of returning to power because, in its view, India was ‘shining’, but was both stunned and furious when the Congress and its allies, jointly named the United Progressive Alliance, won the poll. The saffron party decided to disrupt the entire session of Parliament so that the Manmohan Singh Government just could not function. The BJP’s excuse was that the UPA Government had included ‘tainted’ ministers. For the first time, the Budget of a billion plus people was passed without a single minute’s discussion. In 2004, some friendly astrologers had assured the BJP’s leaders that the Congress’s rule would be short-lived. However, it lasted a whole decade, even though to call its performance its last three years appalling would be the understatement of the century.
No wonder, Narendra Modi, rather than his party, won a victory so staggering that it reduced the Congress tally in the Lok Sabha from 206 to a pitiable 44. (Incidentally, the BJP has captured exactly this number of parliamentary seats in Maharashtra alone.) Consequently, the traditional mutual dislike between them has morphed into something strange. The BJP looks down upon the Congress with disdain; the latter is trying to overcome its frustration by making life as difficult as possible for the former however it can and wherever it can. Evidently, the best place to make the lovers of lotus miserable is the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling party is in a small minority and most other parties are prone to side with the Congress. This should explain why in the Upper House of Parliament the winter session was a total flop every second and at every step.
The Congress would do well to recognise that there is a growing feeling in the country against disruption of Parliament that holds up the nation’s work and wastes a huge amount of taxpayer money. At the same time, the Prime Minister and his party cannot absolve themselves of their share of blame for what happened in the Rajya Sabha. For, despite repeated requests by the House, Modi refused to say a word on crucial and potentially explosive issues such as reconversion or ghar wapsi. This is completely unacceptable and, if persisted in, could ruin the Budget session, too, that is due to begin shortly. It is also necessary to point out that when in power, both the Congress and the BJP say and do one thing but take exactly the opposite position when in Opposition. For instance, in 2008 the BJP, like the CPI (M) that withdrew outside support to the Manmohan Singh Government, opposed the Indo-US civil nuclear deal. Now, just before President Obama’s arrival, the Modi cabinet is working overtime to settle with the US differences over this country’s nuclear liability law.
Let us hope against hope that both the ruling party and the Opposition will accept the President’s sage advice to “sit together and find a workable solution” to avoid disruptions.
