Aditi Phadnis: Introducing discipline

PLAIN POLITICS

The Speaker has been equally tough with MPs belonging to his own party.

On June 4, India's only Communist Speaker of the Lok Sabha celebrated four years in office. Just two months before this, Somnath Chatterjee referred for the first time ever, the disorderly conduct of 32 Lok Sabha MPs to the Privileges Committee of the House. Ironically, one of the MPs among the 32 was a member of this very committee.

As a large number of the 32 MPs were from the BJP, the campaign started that the Speaker was singling out the BJP for punishment. Nobody remembered that this Speaker was the one who had said publicly that he thought Sushma Swaraj was the best Parliamentary Affairs Minister he had known. It was also this Speaker who forced his party, the CPI(M) to apologise in writing for misbehaving in the House (the issue was the Maritime University Bill to establish a maritime university which was to have been set up in Kolkata but was shifted to Chennai, at the instance of Shipping Minister TR Baalu). This incensed CPI(M) MPs from West Bengal so much that when Baalu was introducing the bill they trooped into the well of the House and made for the bench where he was sitting. One MP tried to snatch his papers. The Speaker asked CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharia to apologise for the conduct of his MPs or face the consequences. The apology came the next day.

But the BJP? That's another matter altogether. The Lok Sabha is a rowdy house, there's no denying this. There are times when running it can test any sane man's patience. Chatterjee has been handling disruptions in the House with as much wisdom as he can muster, but what happened on May 24 was the last straw.

The rules of conduct in the Lok Sabha mandate that members are prohibited from raising slogans in the House. This fact is known to every member and the first warning of the session was issued by the Speaker on April 15. There was a background to this. In the budget session, as economic issues are discussed as part of the debate on the demand for grants, usually, there is no separate discussion. But when CPI(M) MPs sought a debate on the price rise that had been pending since the previous year but had been thwarted by disruptions, he readily allowed it, reviving it as a Short Duration Discussion which meant a debate with wider participation.

The BJP gave no notice for such a discussion. Not only that, on the appointed day, instead of taking part in the debate, its MPs trooped to the well of the House shouting slogans. The debate had to be postponed to the next day. On that day, the BJP participated but attendance was poor and when Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar replied at 7 pm, there were less than a dozen BJP MPs in the House. None of them asked any questions, no one sought clarifications.

Then the demand for grants of the Rural Development Ministry were heard by the House. How many BJP MPs in the House? Three. Seven days after the debate on price rise, the BJP again raised the issue of inflation. The same issue cannot be discussed more than once in one session. This is the rule.

But on the grounds that they were denied the right to raise inflation, "a matter that is of central concern to all Indians", the BJP boycotted Question Hour, formed a human chain in the Parliament House complex and at noon, trooped into the well shouting slogans.

The war began. The Speaker had earlier warned MPs of the consequences of violating the rules of the House. He repeated the warning and adjourned the house till the afternoon. This matter was then referred to the Privileges Committee, along with the behaviour of Brajesh Pathak who asked Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan a question, but when he tried to reply, would not let him reply and went into the well of the House, shouting slogans.

The Speaker then referred both these incidents to the Privileges Committee, naming 32 MPs who had violated parliamentary privilege. Of them, Brajesh Pathak is himself a member of this committee. And Vijayendra Pal Singh has faced both the Ethics and the Privileges Committee (he is member of both committees and was earlier let off with a warning by the Ethics Committee for using a fake vehicle entry pass sticker to gain entry into the Parliament House complex). The Speaker's action threw both the ruling and the opposition party into a panic. The very next day, leaders of both came to him to give him a solemn undertaking that both would cooperate with him from the next session onwards. He withdrew the reference.

Why, you could ask, did he do that? Shouldn't errant MPs have been taught a lesson (the Privileges Committee has the powers to recommend suspension of MPs for the whole session if charged with disorderly conduct). The fact is, there is no guarantee the MPs would have heeded the Speaker's ruling. If they had defied him and sought his removal for 'being partial', it would have been the Chair's authority and prestige that would have taken a beating. The monsoon session of Parliament will be at the end of July or the beginning of August. Will Parliament run? hat's the test.