Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla wants a pan-Indian meeting of legislative leaders and presiding officers to discuss the issue of decorum and discipline in legislative bodies after Parliament’s monsoon session was marred by continuous disruptions and unruly scenes leading to a near washout.
“As we are celebrating 75 years of our independence, I think time has come to have wider consultation with all parties on maintaining decorum of legislative bodies. When we call ourselves as the temple of democracy, constitutional decorum should be maintained as it gives a wider message to the country and its people,” said Birla.
In 2001, then Lok Sabha speaker GMC Balayogi had called an all-India conference of presiding officers, chief ministers, ministers of parliamentary affairs, leaders and whips of parties on “discipline and decorum in Parliament and legislatures of states and union territories”. Held on November 25, 2001, the conference adopted a resolution encompassing a code of conduct for members of all legislative bodies in India. Balayogi had observed that “the image of Parliament and its credibility as a representative institution largely depend on the role and functions of its members”.
To be sure, it brought little change in disruptions in Parliament. At least three sessions in the last 15 years have been washed out, and several members have been suspended from the House. The last session of Parliament witnessed such unruly scenes that the Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu is contemplating action against at least 12 lawmakers.
{{/usCountry}}To be sure, it brought little change in disruptions in Parliament. At least three sessions in the last 15 years have been washed out, and several members have been suspended from the House. The last session of Parliament witnessed such unruly scenes that the Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu is contemplating action against at least 12 lawmakers.
{{/usCountry}}Birla, at least on two occasions, stayed away from the chair in frustration when disrupting MPs refused to listen to him.
He said on Thursday, “We have to relook into the issue of maintaining decorum and how to make Parliament and assemblies accountable to the people of India. Differences between parties are a healthy sign in politics but dialogue and discussion must also take place,” he said.
Birla’s observations come after Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday proposed naming and shaming of disruptive MPs even as he called on the 5,000-odd lawmakers in India to adhere to House norms.
Delivering the Pranab Mukherjee memorial lecture, Naidu suggested that the public should launch a social media campaign, write letters to newspapers and question disruptive lawmakers and even consider the elected representative’s parliamentary conduct as a key factor for voting in elections.
Birla, when asked about Naidu’s suggestions, said, “This is his opinion. He is entitled to his own opinion. I think dialogue and discussion is the best way. We have discussed the issue of decorum at the presiding officers’ conference and agreed even as there would be dispute, debate and differences between the Opposition and treasury benches, we have to maintain the decorum of the House.”