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In the twilight of its tenure, the hastily put together ruling UPA is showing unmistakable signs of a government on the run. It ran away from the traditional four-to-five-week monsoon session of Parliament. And on Friday, after a week of wrangling with opposition parties, it put its foot down and ruled out a four-week winter session as well. Instead, what we’re seeing is a complete travesty of parliamentary norms and conventions with the government dribbling through procedural loopholes to protect itself from a no-confidence motion that could blow apart a closely guarded secret — that it may not have the numbers for a majority after all. After studying the fine print of parliamentary rules, Congress strategists have come up with an ingenious solution to its predicament. The special session called in July for a trust vote was not prorogued. So when Parliament met last week, it was a continuation of the previous session, as it will be when it meets again on December 10. The rules forbid confidence and no-confidence votes in the same session, which means the government is safe from any challenge to its numbers till the general elections. It’s amazing how quickly the sheen has rubbed off the infamous July victory. The government won the trust vote all right but it is rapidly losing the confidence of even its partners because of sheer abdication of governance in the face of a severe economic crisis and grave security challenges.

The arguments last week in the chambers of the Rajya Sabha chairman and the Lok Sabha Speaker saw some sarcastic exchanges. But thick-skinned government leaders were unmoved. CPM’s Sitaram Yechury threw up his hands in frustration. Who’s going to move a no-confidence motion a couple of months before the elections, he exclaimed, trying to use political reason to argue with the government not to bypass established norms. Ironically, this is a Congress government being accused of trampling on democratic institutions, not one led by a Mayawati or a Mulayam Singh Yadav or a Lalu Yadav. We tend to revile caste and regional leaders for ignoring established conventions to suit their selfish political ends. But scratch those who sit on a moral pedestal and they aren’t very different when the fear factor strikes. The loser is democracy, always. This year, Parliament has met for just 37 days so far instead of the 100 odd days it should have completed by now. Apart from finishing mandatory business like passing the union budget, it hasn’t done much else. There’s been no serious debate, for instance, on the economic crisis staring us in the face. It’s at times like this that one begins to wonder how much longer we can sustain the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy we adopted from our colonial past.

TAILPIECE

Parliament may be in a tailspin but Rashtrapati Bhavan aims to follow in Buckingham Palace’s footsteps as a must-see destination for visitors to New Delhi. A unique tourism package is under preparation that begins with a half hour changing of the guards ceremony in the forecourt of the imposing presidential mansion, followed by a leisurely walk through a newly designed Nature Trail along the Ridge area in the grounds, topped by a tour of the treasures and historical rooms of the Bhavan. Called Saturday Morning at Rashtrapati Bhavan, it will be on offer for tour operators this winter. The package is a brainchild of the secretary to the President, Christy Fernandez, who used to be tourism secretary. Obviously, you can take a man out of tourism, but you can’t take tourism out of a man!

Email: a_jerath@dnaindia.net