Far from helping find a way to end the impasse in Parliament, the decision of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to suspend 25 Congress members from the House for five days will only escalate the confrontation between the government and the opposition over the Lalit Modi affair and the Vyapam corruption case. No one disputes the powers of the Speaker to act to ensure order in the House, but democratic functioning requires more than just obeying rules to the letter. While exercising her authority to suspend members for “persistently and wilfully obstructing the business” of the House, Ms. Mahajan did not do justice to her role as facilitator of free and open debate in the Lok Sabha. Instead of being a model for Speakers of State legislatures, she followed the example of the presiding officers of some States who suspend members routinely to ensure smooth passage for the treasury benches through politically inconvenient sessions. Indeed, Ms. Mahajan was seen as having acted in the manner of the presiding officers of the Gujarat Assembly when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister, prompting Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge to remark that the “Gujarat model” was being brought into Parliament. The Speaker’s verdict on whether the conduct of a member is “grossly disorderly” is final, and there is no doubt that Congress members came into the well and shouted slogans without allowing the conduct of proceedings. But muzzling debate is anathema to parliamentary democracy, and suspensions should have been only the last resort.
Unfortunately, instead of reaching out to the opposition and extending tangible assurances on ensuring the accountability of those in positions of power, the government appeared happy to show up the opposition as being disruptive. Meetings with opposition leaders were convened, but the end objective seems to have been to suspend some Congress members. Not only was the government unwilling to yield on the demand for the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje over the Lalit Modi affair, and of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the Vyapam case, it was also peremptorily dismissive of all allegations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not ready to engage the opposition leaders directly in discussions, and instead let his Ministers make some half-hearted measures. At stake are the political accountability of those in power and the democratic functioning of Parliament. Like the opposition, the government too holds the responsibility for the smooth conduct of the business of the House. To invoke the powers to suspend merely because the government failed in its efforts to persuade, is but an abdication of that responsibility.
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