MLA – A Naive Persona!

Daily Post 1394

MLA – A Naive Persona!

Member of Legislative Assembly, MLA, represents a constituency, as a legislator, to put forth his view in discussions for passage to various bills into an Act in the state legislature. He is party to the passage of the budget post discussion full of sound economic rationale in favour of his constituents, party and state and hold executive responsible to the legislature by way questions, discussions and other legislative modalities. He heads and is a part of Assembly Committees pertaining to legislative business and indirectly have control on the proper functioning of the govt. MLAs have also been heading executive type committees at different levels.

They are fulcrum of the state legislature and through the political executive control the fate of the state. Only a majority of their support leads to making somebody the leader of the Legislature Party and then the Chief Executive of the state. India does not have the presidential system of democracy, so the leader is not elected directly by the masses but by representatives of the masses, having gained electoral success. This is precarious to the robustness of our democracy / legislative business and indirectly to the executive administration of the state. The 30 years of coalition govts at the center had its own challenges at the Union Govt level. The numbers game is the name of the game. Governments are sacrificed at the altar of numbers. In Narasimha Rao’s case were the JMM MPs naive?

The sordid saga keeps unfolding in the states with an alarming regularity to the extent that the scenes have got stuck up in every citizen’s mind. Groups of MLAs in resorts, hotels, buses, flights, being herded, bash ups, media following the herd, big leaders coming / going, endless discussions, becoming incommunicado and making entry just before the vote of confidence have all become the symbols of a vibrant democracy, in our living memory. This is the super thriller of the Indian democracy. With 24/7 electronic, digital and social media hungry to catch every single move, the best of the epics have forgotten their selling points. If this nature of effort, camaraderie, team spirit, being together day in and day out to fulfil a task happens for either legislative or executive business, the strength of democracy and its citizens would grow by leaps and bounds.

The terms, words, and jargons used while this democratic circus is on, in full display are horse trading, fishing in troubled waters, misguiding, luring and at times even kidnapping is even used. The leaders / political fire fighters keep giving their part of the story. What is made out by them is that the MLA is a naive persona being played by powers and circumstances that be. The whips have also not helped and there are instances of cross voting and abstaining too. The centre of piece is the MLA and all the stories have to be finally built around them. With immense political, legislative and direct / indirect executive power, can naïveté hold ground? With the role they are mandated to play in the democratic body politic of the state, owning more responsibility for their constituents/citizens can be transformational.

LET COVID-19 CHANGE EVERYTHING, FULLY RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE’S REPRESENTATIVES IS OUR CRYING NEED.

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