Parliament Disruption Has Become Opposition’s Favoured Tool—At the Cost of Citizen

The political deadlock on the repealing of farm laws and the Pegasus phone-hacking controversy has washed out the first two weeks of the monsoon session. In her biography, Margaret Alva recalls how the shouting brigade of women MPs in Rajya Sabha “would keep raising issues pertaining to violence against SCs and women and disrupt the House.” She further shared that after an unsavoury exchange in the upper House, a woman MP walked up to a male colleague in the lobby and ripped his kurta. Four years later, the then Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal said that the cost of parliamentary disruption is Rs 2.5 lakh per minute. In 2003, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said, “In a democracy, there are bound to be differences among political parties, and there is bound to be vigorous debate among divergent viewpoints in Parliament. Differences and their well-researched, articulate expression both inside and outside Parliament is the very stuff of democracy.” He went on to say, “But the vitality of democracy also demands discipline, constructive approach, and a readiness to contribute to consensus-building on pressing issues before the nation — and adherence to rules.” Political parties, both ruling and Opposition, have a responsibility towards the country.