DailyPost 2491
ARE PARLIAMENTARIANS THE REAL SOVEREIGNS?
We have all read about sovereignty and what it means for a nation state, basic political unit, for all interfaces with the world. In the very context we have also been told about India’s sovereignty, which cannot be compromised under any circumstances. The nation’s sovereignty is represented by the representative / legislative institution which we call the parliament. The representative sovereignty finally lands here, people being the real sovereign. How many people get represented is another story, but most of the time even their cries and worst horrors go unheard.
This is nothing new to Independent India’s parliamentary history and if some action has happened at times, it is more of crisis management; managing power with an eye on the elections. The members of the parliament can hold the parliament to ransom, which no one can deny; that being as it stands, they have become undeclared sovereigns of the nation. If they are in a big mass called the parliamentary party, they can wreak havoc. They say it is a numbers game, once you have the numbers sovereignty vests in you. How does it remain representative of its constituents, representing what and for whom?
The government is accountable to the legislature. The legislature over decades dances to the tunes of the parliamentarians and where does this imbroglio end? In rarest of the occurrences a parliamentarian is made / held accountable, they have all the powers in a zero-accountability sum game. How do people sit in judgement over their performances, there is no method to do that? There is no matrix to evaluate their performance. Will the electorate ever be allowed to do that? The sovereign mindset is very clear in their behaviour at all sorts of places, their utterances and how the whole system comes to their rescue, even for the wildest of acts of theirs. Work or no work, it is fun all the time. Even attendance is not compulsory.
Being a part of the discussion and that too worthwhile ones is a far cry. All perks and power you will hang around with, all you need is to win an election, being fought on rhetoric and negativity. Winnability we will leave for some other day. They decide on the business of the house, based on some rules which nobody is familiar with. If they decide they can washout session after session, with no consequences to follow. Legislatures have seen pitched battles, that also seems to be fine now. Corruption rocks the parliament off and on and they decide what to do with it. What stand they take is final? While handling everything under the sun; talent, with regards to their expertise and commitment the less said the better. The Indian parliament for sure has lost connect with the people, if not the country.
SOVERIGNITY DE FACTO HAS MOVED INTO THE PARLIAMENTARIANS HANDS.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.