Bill passage amid chaos not new trend in recent history of Parliament

Express News Service

NEW DELHI:  The Parliament ruckus and bills passed without discussions appear to be the new normal, with no difference made by parties in power at the Centre. If the Wednesday chaos in Rajya Sabha was on account of the monsoon session passing bills in haste, the UPA’s record also appears no different, with 17 legislative proposals getting nod within minutes.

Opposition MPs alleged that their women colleagues were manhandled in Rajya Sabha, while the government charged there was an attempt to strangulate a woman marshal. These are cited as new lows. But both Houses of Parliament are full of incidents, where MPs trooped into the well of the House to raise slogans.

With former Vice President and then Chairman of Rajya Sabha Hamid Ansari watching, MPs belonging to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Samajwadi Party  (SP) in 2010 had torn copies of the Constitution Amendment Bill to reserve one-third of seats for women in legislative bodies, including both the Houses of Parliament. Torn pieces of paper were thrown at the Chair and attempts were made to uproot the microphone of the presiding officer. The Women Reservation Bill has since been forgotten, with ruling dispensations mentioning a lack of political consensus whenever the issue is raised.  

A few months before Lok Sabha elections in 2014, the lower House witnessed an unprecedented scene, with Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh spraying pepper in the well of the House, after then Union Minister for Home Affairs Sushil Kumar Shinde had sought to introduce the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill. Party MPs had to form a ring to protect him from the agitating MPs from the same party.  

On legislative business, the NDA and UPA dispensations have seemingly been in tearing hurry to get bills passed in a din. UPA had a record of passing 18 bills during 2006-14 without discussions, when neither House was in order. NDA bettered the UPA record, with the Lok Sabha alone passing as many as 20 bills in the just concluded monsoon session, with only the Constitution (127) Amendment Bill being discussed by the two Houses.