Has Parliamentary democracy become irrelevant?

The monsoon session of India’s Parliament ended on Thursday without transacting any business. Shouting matches with noisy placards and menacing gestures made live coverage of the Parliament session far more ‘action-packed’ than any recent Bollywood movie.

On the occasion of the 69th Independence Day of India, “we the people..” of India are asking the basic question: is this the meaning of independence from British colonial rule? Is this where Parliamentary democracy has come to stay? Disagreements between political parties and leaders have reached a level of confrontation hitherto unknown in modern history of democratic governance.

Citizens of India have begun to lose trust in Parliamentary democracy. If the trends of the past decade are any indication to go by, no legislative business is likely to be conducted in Parliament in the near future. Parliament’s oversight of the executive is also weakening, as debates around existing policies or programmes hardly have any space in this violently chaotic ambience.

The trend of declining relevance of legislatures is not just limited to Parliament in India. In many states as well, Legislative Assemblies have become non-functional. There has been a pattern of the Assembly meeting for a decreasing number of days to conduct legislative business. Even when Assemblies meet, the usual shouting and fighting consumes most of the time. Ruling parties with their majority and opposition parties in minority seem to have lost the capacity to discuss issues that matter to the citizens and electorates.

Lest it is believed that such phenomena are unique to India, the largest democracy, take a look at American Congress and Senate, the oldest democracy. The entire tenure of President Obama has been characterised by ‘filibuster’ type confrontations between Democrats and Republicans. Not much meaningful legislative business is being conducted in that legislature either. 

Closer home, the democratic legislative processes in Thailand have been marred by in-house and on-street confrontations over the past decade between the ‘red’ and ‘yellow’ shirt supporters -- the masses and the classes. This confrontation reached such levels that military rule has been imposed in Thailand last May. The Junta is governing Thailand to the comfort of many of its citizens!

Therefore, is it time to question if Parliamentary democracy has become irrelevant to the governance of societies? Both the Westminster and American forms of legislatures seem to be failing to effectively conduct legislative responsibilities mandated by their constitutions. Is there then another form that needs to be invented?

Or is the question different - have political parties outlived their relevance in Parliamentary democracy? Have political parties become private business enterprises controlling interests of a few families? Have political parties lost their very purpose of mobilising diverse political perspectives about priorities for common public goods? Or, are political parties at all essential for the functioning of democratically elected legislatures?

Should the dreaded question even be asked? How relevant is the democratically-elected form of governance in the world today? Given that most Presidents, Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers anyway conduct themselves as CEOs, should this form not be legitimised, and a ‘Governing Board’ of elder, wise women and men appointed for oversight? 

As we Indians hoist our national flag with pride this August 15, we should ponder about the meaning of independence we have ‘acquired’. Should we not decide to act in ways so that our grandchildren may feel a bit more proud of the country’s record of independence?

The author is Founder President of PRIA, New Delhi.