By Raman Jokhakar, Tarunkumar Singhal, Chartered Accountants
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22 Missing in action
MPs’ absenteeism subverts Indian democracy
Inflation is a burning issue because it eats into the already
meager incomes of the poor, and our politicians are concerned. Right ? Wrong.
MPs revealed how much they really care about rising prices of essential
commodities as opposed to how much they would like us to believe that they care
— by largely playing truant when the matter came up for discussion in both
Houses of Parliament. In the Lok Sabha, even among the few MPs who bothered to
turn up, many staged a quiet exit soon after. The lack of quorum in the House
was dealt with simply by not drawing attention to the inconvenient fact.
Even though India is a democracy, this apathy makes it
resemble a dictatorship. A dictator rules by decree and has the power to silence
the opposition. In a democracy whose politicians are apathetic, the opposition
silences itself. Dissent in a dictatorship can be expressed only through street
protests or militant agitations. That’s also the idiom in which opposition
politicians like to express themselves in India.
In both cases there’s little scope for dialogue or rational
debate. Politics is reduced to posturing or making token gestures. If
politicians want us to believe that they are serious about the causes they
espouse, let them at least show up when the issue is tabled in Parliament. Scant
attendance of parliamentarians reduces democracy itself to a formal affair.
(Source : The Times of India, 16-4-2008)
