After his thumping win in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi entered Parliament with fanfare – kneeling down and touching his forehead on the stairs of the building designed by British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker. After entering Parliament, he described it as a “temple of democracy”.
Unfortunately, these grand gestures have been belied by the Modi government’s actions in office.
Most recently, following the demonetisation policy announced last month, Opposition parties have demanded that the prime minister speak in a debate on demonetisation in Parliament, but Modi has not done so even though he has attacked the Opposition elsewhere for opposing demonetisation.
Even more alarming is the Bharatiya Janata Party showing little regard for parliamentary rules and procedure.
On Tuesday, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan flatly refused to let a crucial taxation bill be discussed in the Lok Sabha.
The fact that legislation is now simply being bulldozed through Parliament by the Union government is one in a long line of warning signs where State and Union legislatures have been devalued, even as the executive and judicial arms of the state have got stronger. Given that the legislature is the only arm of the State that is directly elected by the Indian peoples, this is an alarming development for democracy.
‘No debate,...
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