NEW DELHI, December 16, 2011
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday countered the accusation that the Opposition was responsible for disruption of Parliament, saying the situation arose from the actions of the government, which knew the ruling coalition did not have a secure majority in both Houses and was refusing to heed people's voice.
“The truth is that the ruling Congress and the UPA government are unwilling to abide by the tenets of parliamentary democracy. The normal democratic functioning of Parliament is seen as a hindrance because the UPA does not have a secure majority in both Houses of Parliament,” CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said in the latest issue of party organ Peoples' Democracy.
The corporate media had mounted a campaign that MPs were wantonly destroying the institution of Parliament while some young MPs, many of whom have corporate links, have demanded the application of the ‘No Work—No Pay' principle. “But behind the smokescreen of propaganda lurks an inconvenient truth.”
Referring to the Cabinet decision of allowing 51 per cent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, Mr. Karat said Parliament got stalled on the issue as the government refused to accept the adjournment motion of the Opposition as it was not willing to face any censure, with partners Trinamool Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam opposing the policy and uncertainty about neutralising the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Certain Congress ministers advanced absurd arguments that policy decision was the right of the executive and a parliamentary vote was an encroachment on its legitimate right. While conceding that executive had the right to take decisions in certain policy matters, he said how can the Parliament's right to scrutinise such policy decisions and for the Opposition to seek to reverse such a decision through a parliamentary vote be denied.
“It goes against the elementary principle of the accountability of the executive to Parliament in our political set-up. If the government wishes to push through an unpopular and harmful policy, it must be willing to face the consequences of that in Parliament.”
The Manmohan Singh-led government, he said, should realise that it cannot adopt many of its neo-liberal and pro-U.S. policies as it did not command a majority in Parliament. “Instead of accepting this, the government prefers to push through such measures and manoeuvre to escape parliamentary scrutiny and approval by allowing Parliament to be paralysed.”
Citing instances of parliamentary standing committees that scrutinised the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill or the Lokpal Bill, he said the government had a record of ignoring the recommendations when it did not suit them.
He said:
“What does this contempt for parliament or the willingness to bypass parliament show? In country after country, where the governments acting in the interests of the ruling classes are prone to the pressures of international finance capital, there is a distinct tendency to narrow the scope of parliament and to attenuate its power.
“As long as parliament faithfully rubberstamps the neo-liberal policies and does not voice the popular opposition to the restrictions on democratic rights and attacks on the livelihoods of the people, the functioning of parliament is tolerated.
“Where the parliaments are unable to adhere to the draconian demands of finance capital and the imperatives of the neo-liberal policies, efforts are made to restrict and tame the elected bodies into submission.”