Politics of disruption

It was a curious sighting. In the short time till Parliament was adjourned for yet another day on Thursday,opposition parties,led by the BJP and AIADMK,shouted down the two Houses demanding a joint parliamentary committee investigation into irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation. This was obviously expected. But this time Congress MPs too added their bit to the din,shouting slogans against the B.S. Yeddyurappa government in Karnataka for very questionable decisions relating to land. 2G and land denotification,respectively,have rendered the Central and Karnataka governments politically shaken,and their opponents would predictably like to drive the point home. However,the sight of ruling party MPs adding to the disruption in Parliament shows the wreckage from which this winter session must be salvaged.Its clear that the leaderships of political parties in government and in opposition have abandoned this week to a politics of obstructionism. Of course,Parliament is essentially theatre. Its the arena for disputation,for a contest between different points of view,for the opposition to show itself to be holding the government to task,and for the government to give an account of its plans and actions. But the trend for too many years now is for the opposition to use disruption alone to make a point and for the government to too easily submit to the tactic,and cram the legislative agenda between disruptions. The argumentation that should ideally inform daily transactions in the House has been allowed to escape to other forums. Take the oppositions demand for a JPC and governments submission that the public accounts committee is equipped for the task of examining the CAGs report. Surely,even that argument and counter-argument should have taken place on the floor of the House?The worry is not that MPs are not up to the task. There are enough nooks in a Parliament session the structured debate,a marquee bill when they repeatedly rise to the occasion. It is,instead,that they do not choose to work out ways in which to show themselves to be consistently invested in the normal functioning of the House. The consequent disruptions may score political points,but they also feed a dangerous cynicism about politics.