Slump in parliamentary decorum: It’s time for stakeholders to introspect

The developments one has been seeing in the last few days in Rajya Sabha where the Chairman and vice president Jagdeep Dhankar walked out of the House with a “heavy heart” and an article by the Speaker of Lok Sabha Om Birla which calls for the need to maintain discipline and decorum and in legislatures calls for introspection by all political parties both at the national and state level.

In fact, it would be good if a seminar or workshop of all members of parliament is convened to discuss these developments and see that such instances do not take place in future. May be the Lok Sabha Speaker may consider inviting the presiding officers of state legislatures and floor leaders as well for the exclusive discussion so that politics and ethics can be welded into a unit.

The Speaker Om Birla in his article had rightly said that “elected members are looked up to by people of this country specially youth, as their role models. Therefore the conduct of the legislators should be dignified, orderly, exemplary and beyond reproach. He also observed that legislators should be dignified, orderly exemplary and beyond reproach. Upholding parliamentary decorum is critical for the edifice of parliamentary democracy and it’s supreme democratic institution. Parliamentarians and legislators are, thus, bound by the spirit of the Constitution to maintain high standards of conduct in the houses of legislature.”

The opposition parties have a crucial role to play in a democracy. But at the same time, they cannot try to be rough in their approach. They have a greater role to play in proper conduct of the business of the house and health of democracy. At the same time the ruling party too has to be considerate and accommodative of the views and reasonable demands of the opposition and facilitate a healthy discussion.

The opposition should not resort to disruptions and it should not become a regular feature. Members have some immunity while speaking in legislatures but then the rules say that they should not criticise the chair. Though the rules and procedures do not specify what the conduct of a member should be, as they are supposed to be honorable members and are expected to display high level of decency and decorum, discuss and debate based on the facts and figures and give concrete suggestions to the government.

Body language of a member or even a minister plays a very important role. It should be pleasant. Every issue need not be looked from political angle because they get elected to resolve people’s issues not to settle political scores. The big question is are we working in that direction? Shouting at each other, trying to score political points by taking jibes at each other seems to be dominating the proceedings. It is not only the Government who are the trustees of public money; even opposition too should consider themselves as trustees.

All these issues assume greater urgency and importance in the wake certain incidents that had taken place where the Chairman of Rajya Sabha Jagdeep Dhankar felt offended and insulted. In December 2023, he expressed his anguish and pain saying saying that he felt hurt by the targeting of his farmer and Jat background.

Taking on the former union minister P Chidambaram he said, “Imagine what must be going through my heart when your senior leader (Rahul Gandhi) video graphs a Member of Parliament (Kalyan Bannerjee) mocking the Institution of Chairman, as an individual take on me”. A senior member of Parliament is videotaping another member... for what?”

He further added, “Mr. Chidambram, your party posted a video which was withdrawn later on. That was a shame to me. You used the official twitter handle of the spokesperson (of the party) to demean me, insult me, insult my background as a farmer, insult my position as a Jat, insult my position as a Chairman.”

On August 8, he walked out of the House with a “heavy heart.” The opposition demanded a discussion on Phogat’s disqualification. But Dhankhar interjected and said nothing will go on record. Opposition raised loud protests and Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien was heard raising an issue, to which Dhankhar retorted that he was “shouting at the Chair.”

“You are shouting at the chair. Your conduct is ugliest in the House. I condemn your actions. Next time I will show you the door. How dare you shout at the chair? And senior leaders are not saying anything,” he said to O’Brien. Opposition then staged a walkout.

When the opposition members returned after some time, Dhankhar said that the opposition’s conduct shows that they are a “law unto themselves” and only “their hearts bleed” for Phogat. The Chairman said that “The entire nation is in pain because of the girl. Everyone is sharing the situation but to monetise it, politicise it, which is the greatest disrespect to that girl. The chair has been challenged in recent days and he did not find it suitable to sit in the House. “For some time I am not finding myself in a position to sit here,” he added and left the house.

He also made some critical remarks that they think they are all wise. They think they are the only ones whose hearts are bleeding,” he said. Dhankhar said that he had asked Kharge to send him in writing about the issue he wishes to raise. “And the response that I got from him, ‘I want to raise an issue of urgent public importance’. Do I make anything out of it? Do I know the subject and urgency? In the process, the leader of the opposition has an idea of the chair that the chair is a rubber stamp or just a post office to send the communication to give the floor. When I give the floor it is watched by 1.4 billion people,” he said.

But then it did not end here. On Friday it again witnessed heated face off between the Chairman Dhankar and Samajawadi Party MP Jaya Bachachan. When Dhankhar invited her to speak and said: “Jaya Amitabh Bachchan is the last speaker on this point.”This apparently left Jaya Bachchan miffed as she questioned the chair’s tone and termed it ‘unacceptable’.

“I, Jaya Amitabh Bachchan, want to say that I am an artist and I understand body language and expression. I am sorry to say that but your tone ... is not acceptable,” she said.

To this, Jagdeep Dhankar erupted in anger, asked her to take the seat and advised everyone to follow the House decorum irrespective of anyone’s stature.”You may be a celebrity but everyone has to follow the decorum. Never carry an impression that only you have reputation,” he remarked. Dhankar said that he has ‘highest respect’ for fellow Parliamentarians but this doesn’t give somebody a ‘license’ to hurl accusations at the Chair.”

Well the issue here is not who is right and who is at fault. The issue is what should be done to prevent any such face off in the future. That is where perhaps a daylong seminar or workshop should be organised and a consensus should be arrived to protect the decency of the Parliament and legislatures. If need be new rules could be framed to ensure that in no situation should the authority of the chair be questioned or his instructions disregarded. Chair should be regarded as supreme institution not as an individual.