Switch off the distractions

Switch off the distractions

Actually, there is nothing new about what happened in Parliament on Monday. The President's address to the joint session of the two Houses -- to unveil the government's agenda at the beginning of the Budget session -- was unrelentingly interrupted by chatter, slogans and the insistent ring of the cell phone. Past experience testifies that our MPs have seldom allowed the solemnity of an occasion to subdue them into disciplined conduct. And it is common knowledge that though the carrying and using of mobile phones and pagers inside the Parliament House complex is not permitted, and though security forces maintain a strict vigil as far as almost everybody else is concerned, MPs have shown themselves to be above this law as well. No, our parliamentarians' breach of basic parliamentary etiquette does not occasion any surprise. But it would be a sad, and cynical, moment indeed if it were to also cease to outrage.

It is not just about the flouting of ceremonial niceties. The rude heckling and the intrusive cell phone are also symptoms of a larger abdication of responsibility. Reports have dubbed the last session of this Lok Sabha the most wasteful in India's parliamentary history. A slew of crucial legislation was relegated to the backburner as MPs of the Opposition forced repeated adjournments, in the name of the farmer and on the vexed Ayodhya issue. That remarkably fruitless session cost the nation an estimated Rs 50 crore, excluding the expenses incurred on security for MPs and ministers, canteen meals, fares and maintenance which are taken care of by various ministries and the preparing of parliamentary questions. While the Opposition cannot be grudged the right to be oppositional and the treasury benches' intransigence was often provocation enough, there is surely a vital distinction to be acknowledged and maintained here. The Opposition has a duty to call the government to book and to use all the means at itsdisposal to do so, but the danger lies in not knowing, or caring, when vibrant political opposition begins to resemble sheer cussed obstructionism.

The new session brings with it new temptations. Assembly elections to key states -- Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Pondicherry, Assam, Kerala -- are due in about two months time. The urge for parties to launch their respective election campaigns from the floor of the House will be an irresistible one. It will be difficult for regional outfits not to posture and pose for their sectional constituencies and narrow votebanks back home even on national issues. The Congress has also displayed a new eagerness to play its role as the main party of the opposition with greater passion, no matter what. There will be many opportunities in this session for face-offs and conflict, for making it into media headlines through agitated rushings into the well of the House and unequivocal walk-outs. Here's hoping against hope that in this six-week session, the confrontation will be a creative one. That it will help in the opening up of new possibilities, not the shrinking and closure of debate.