Goodbye to 14, Welcome to 15

By D.P. Kamat - Syndicate Features

In the next few days, the verdict of Indian voters in the 15th Lok Sabha elections would be out. In case of a fractured mandate, like minded leaders would have to come together to provide a government to the country. There are over five dozen parties in the fray. They include national, regional, recognized and 'unrecognized' (by the poll body) parties. In addition to this, a number of individuals are also testing their luck.

Going by the public mood, it is evident that the country is again heading for another coalition government. UPA and NDA are two fulcrums to which other parties are likely to cling. Right now, both the coalition compendiums are in disarray. They are looking for new partners for the post-poll phase. It is all a game of one-upmanship.

The Indian epics- Ramayana and Mahabharata revolve around the 14- year "vanavasa" of Ram and Pandava brothers. Both went through the agonies of life, faced multiple challenges and ultimately emerged victorious. The 14th Lok Sabha has had its share of gloom and zoom times. People had voted for a divided house.

The Congress and the BJP had won almost equal number of seats in the House of 543 members. They had corned nearly 300 seats between them. The Left Parties tally touched 62. DMK was in the lime light thanks to its good showing and the failure of its betenoire AIADMK to display its strength. BSP played ball along though from 'outside'. But by the time the five-year term came to an end, BSP remained truly outside the UPA government. And its bitter rival, Samajwadi cozied upto the Congress.

The Congress must be ruing the absence of Harkishan Singh Surjeet, the Marxist Chanakya of Delhi politics and its necessity to deal with Prakash Karat, who is ever ready to go to any length to display his disenchantment (snub?) with Manmohan-Sonia combine. Largely because of Surjeet’s craftsmanship, UPA government came to office in 2004. How he managed the feat will remain a classic study in coalition making and politics of convenience under the garb of ideology.

In order to give respectability and also a sense of stability to the UPA Government, Surjeet mooted the idea of installing a Marxist party leader as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. By convention the Speaker is above party politics even as he presides over a house which is guided by the core of party politics. Surjeet took recourse to the convention to tell the cadres that CPI (M) would remain untainted by the UPA record.

Surjeet carried the day with the help of fellow old guard Jyoti Basu, who still believes that the CPI (M) had committed a historical blunder by forcing him to reject the PM’s post in 1996. Their choice fell on barrister turned politician Somnath Chatterjee. He was known for his debating skills. With his experience as an ‘outstanding’ parliamentarian, it was felt, he would set in new bench marks in running the house.

Some of the CPM MPs were so eloquent about his qualities that they had gone to the town with the claim that an astute person like him would control the unparliamentary behaviour of MPs. So, in a manner of speaking, Speaker Somnath brought to office high hopes. Controversies dogged him through out his term. His refrain most of the time was ‘I am ashamed’. That expression neatly summed up the times we are living in.

During his five-year term, Somnath Chatterjee faced half a dozen crucial moments. At one stage, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee castigated him for isolating opposition members. Interestingly, both of them hold each other in high respect. And both are recipients of the coveted Best Parliamentarian Award. The display of wands of currency notes purported to be used to influence the MPs proved to be a black chapter in the history of parliamentary democracy.

The credit for launching exclusive Lok Sabha TV channel goes to Somnath Chatterjee. The channel was born after acrimonious exchanges between Prasar Bharati and the Lok Sabha secretariat. It opened up new controversies regarding coverage of proceedings.

On occasions, the chair rules that certain portions of the proceedings are expunged. By convention the print media respects the ruling. What about the electronic media of which Lok Sabha TV is a part and parcel. The proceedings are live on TV. How should the TV handle the expunged portions which were already heard by the viewers across the country? Is the stick of privilege meant only for print media and not to the electronic medium, which some see as a pampered little child? There are no answers.

When the Left parties withdrew their support to UPA Government, they expected Somnath Chatterjee to vacate his chair as 'the post was inherited by him through a political deal stuck while installing the UPA Government'. He saw the issue in a different light. And the rest is history of acrimony and politics of hurt. It is too early to pass a verdict though he is departing like a lonely man deserted by his party and without any bouquet from the House.

As the Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee took an uncompromising stand on ‘summons’ from Courts. 'Legislature is supreme and is not answerable to the courts', according to him and the Conference of Presiding Officers endorsed his stand.

The Speaker has a duel role – one as the administrator of parliament and all that goes with it and second as the custodian of Parliament, the privileges of members. As the presiding officer it is his responsibility to help the members in making Government accountable to the legislature. Some of these duties open up the Speaker to the scrutiny of Parliament.

And the last word was not heard during the 14th Lok Sabha. Will the 15th Lok Sabha deliver the answers? We will know soon.

- Asian Tribune -