DNA Exclusive: How Opposition's 'hungama' in Parliament is hurting India’s democracy

New Delhi: Parliament is run on the fuel of democracy that it gets from its people. We must think that in a democracy where people have been considered ‘kings’ are still yearning for basic facilities, while the people's representatives who are considered ‘servants’, despite having all the facilities, do not allow the Parliament of the country to function.

In today’s DNA, Zee News’ Rohit Ranjan analysed the “misfortune” of India’s democracy, where Parliament is being stalled for political interests. Opposition parties again created disruption in the Rajya Sabha today which hampered the functioning of the Upper House. Congress and other opposition parties protested on the issue of GST, inflation and ED's questioning of Sonia Gandhi in the Parliament House complex. Apart from this, Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh created a ruckus in the Rajya Sabha on the issue of people who died in the Gujarat hooch tragedy. Following the uproar, 24 MPs of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha have been suspended so far including Sanjay Singh, who is accused of raising slogans and tearing papers in the Upper House. 

There is less work done and more disruptions in the Parliament and there is a huge price for this uproar, which is being paid by the taxpayers. 

नेताओं के 'शोर'तंत्र में बेबस 'लोक'तंत्र?...देखिए #DNA LIVE @irohitr के साथ

+आपका खर्चा...संसद में क्यों नहीं चर्चा?
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+कब आएगा संसद का स्वर्णकाल ? https://t.co/HDakrbxq4B — Zee News (@ZeeNews) July 27, 2022

This year's monsoon session commenced on July 18 and will end on August 12. Out of the total 25 days, the proceedings of the Parliament will run for 18 days. In the first week of proceedings in the Rajya Sabha, around Rs 28 crore has been wasted due to the stalling of the house. On the first three days of the session, the Upper House functioned for only one hour and 16 minutes, whereas on the last two days of the week, the proceedings lasted for 5 hours and 31 minutes. As many as 18 hours and 44 minutes of Rajya Sabha proceedings were wasted in the first week.

Now, the big question that arises is the blocking of the functioning of Parliament, which is burdened with the aspirations and hopes of 140 crore Indians. It is often said that India is the largest democracy in the world, but one must ponder over what do we get in this democracy and what do the leaders get? Politicians get all the amenities– government vehicles along with drivers, government bungalows with servants to reside in the Lutyens Zone near Parliament House among others and all these facilities are available to these public representatives only from public money. That is, the taxpayers of this country give money to run the Parliament, but it is unfortunate that the speed breaker of the opposition's politics creates obstacles in the way of Parliament. Despite availing all the facilities, the leaders of our country are not working properly and people who are considered ‘kings’ in this democracy do not complain even if they do not enjoy basic facilities.