Parliament’s last week was no different from its previous three weeks – more shouting and little work. The lull provided by the Rajya Sabha’s biennial farewell to its one-third membership, however, made some difference.

The apex legislature witnessed near washout of its proceedings, but not because none wanted to work. In fact, the Opposition in both Houses wanted normal business; in the Lok Sabha, it pressed loudly for its no-confidence motion against the government.

Advertisement

The government, too, declared it was ready for any discussion sought by the Opposition, in either of the Houses. In spite of such a scenario, and an overwhelming majority of members in the two Houses seeking to do work, Parliament failed to get into any serious debate.

Among the urgent issues postponed indefinitely in the process, were the sharing of Cauvery water by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the demand of the bifurcated Andhra Pradesh for justice and a special status, and the loot of Indian banks’ money by unscrupulous businesses. The week had a limitation, though, with just two “working” days, and three holidays. The worrisome part was that with its addition, Parliament had completed a month of “non-performance,” and that too during the Budget Session, considered the most eventful of all sessions, drawing crowds of visitors to the public galleries.

Had the two Houses dealt with the initial subjects, and gone into the arithmetic and logic behind the budgetary allocations, some more issues like the farmers’ plight, price-rise and jobless growth could have been discussed.

The Lok Sabha had a strange spectacle on Tuesday; its benches were full of members, and those sitting on the Opposition benches were really standing at their seats, ready to be counted for the acceptance of their no-confidence notices.

To confirm they had the required support, they held in their hands blue placards with numbers, going well beyond 50.

A small group of AIADMK members, however, surrounded the officials’ table in front of the Speaker’s chair, and raised Tamil Nadu’s demand for Cauvery water. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said she had received no-confidence notices from Thota Narasimham (TDP), Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Y V Subba Reddy (YSR Congress Party), P Karunakaran and Mohd Salim (CPI-M), N K Premachandran (RSP), P K Kunhalikutty (IUML), Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), and Jose K Mani (Kerala Congress-Mani), among others, but she could not proceed for the counting of members as there was no order, and adjourned for the day.

She repeated the ruling the next day too. Wednesday’s biennial farewell to around 60 members signified the change with continuity character of the Rajya Sabha,  Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu remarked. He said “despite the stellar contributions made by many women Members, they still constitute only 11.7 per cent of the total membership of the House. Six of our women Members are retiring this time and two of them are returning to the House.”

Retiring members were nostalgic about their experiences. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien, among those retiring soon, said in the Eighties, members staged a walk-out to protest, today they walk into the Well, and hold up the proceedings thereby. Ninety-year-old K Parasaran, former Attorney General, recalled the “persuasive charm” of Leader of the House Arun Jaitley, and former PM Manmohan Singh informing him about his nomination to the House.

I was not a seasoned one in politics, but each day was one of learning for me,” he recalled of his six years’ membership. Criticising disruptions, D P Tripathi (NCP) quoted Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer’s words “truth does not need furniture.”

He wondered, in a country where Kamasutra was written and Vatsyayan was described as a Rishi, Parliament had not discussed sex in a dignified and decent way. Renuka Chowdhury (Cong) said “those were the days when we said, By the people, for the people, and so on. I learnt from Manmohan Singhji the reticence of speech and how much silence speaks more than loud noise on any front.”