French philosopher Voltaire, once clarifying the public sentiments of democracy, had said that “I may not agree with your opinion, but I will defend to the last breath your right to express it.” But this is purely a matter of cultured policy. Today, when the distorted face of democratic politics has come to the fore in incident after incident and various ill-cultured incidents in both the Upper House and Lower House have provided some wrong examples/perspectives, then there is a need for administrative and judicial strictness regarding their continuation. Because now even the political code of conduct has started appearing full of bias. In such a situation, one cannot completely agree with the views of the French philosopher Voltaire.
Since the winter session of the Indian Parliament will start from 1 December 2025. Therefore, to run the functioning of the House smoothly, the ruling party and the opposition should learn from their negative past and present positive examples. It should be allowed to remain a platform for healthy debate on issues of public interest. Politicians should understand that their politics will continue, but the primary responsibility of stopping the unethical traditions which are dominating the legislature is on our honorable MPs. Because Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are now being copied in the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. Especially there is a need to stop rhetoric, factionalism and clashes in the name of caste, religion, language, region etc.
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This is the reason why Rajya Sabha Bulletin has been issued to run the functioning of the House smoothly, in which ‘do’s’ and ‘don’t” things have been mentioned for the members. According to this bulletin, the decision of the Chairman should not be criticized directly or indirectly inside or outside the House. This is considered a healthy parliamentary tradition. The bulletin also said that the Chairman gives decisions in accordance with the precedents of the House and where there is no precedent, the normal parliamentary convention is followed.
Obviously, the purpose of this guideline is to make the proceedings of Rajya Sabha better than in the past, but there should also be room for criticism in it. It would be better if there was criticism instead of criticism. But there should be no political criticism at all. Nor should it be tolerated. Seen in this way, the bulletin of Rajya Sabha will only help in the betterment of the House. Since this is the upper house. Therefore its responsibility also becomes more.
There is no doubt that criticism and debate are part of the parliamentary tradition. As long as criticism is not biased or personal, it should be strongly welcomed. The same sacred feeling is also applicable to other constitutional institutions of the country, for example, the decision of the court can be challenged. Disagreements can be expressed with his decisions and they can be appealed in a higher court. Thus, without freedom of criticism and dissent, all this would not have been possible.
But the tension with the opposition in the House does not seem justified. Anyway, in the electoral political system, everyone from the opposition
It is meaningless to expect agreement on the matter. Then, in the current political environment of the country, conflicts inside and outside the House are common. Indeed, there have been many past examples where tense relations were seen between the opposition and the chair. To be honest, this tension was at its peak during the tenure of former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and he became or was made the victim of this mistake. Since a case is going on in the Privilege Committee of Rajya Sabha regarding a comment by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, which is the result of that tension. Therefore, the new Vice President Radhakrishnan should be cautious of such tendencies.
As far as the idea of ​​democratic decorum is concerned, it would be appropriate to say that in a democracy no one can be said to be beyond criticism. But this is definitely a means of betterment. However, it may also appear from the Rajya Sabha bulletin that the freedom of expression of MPs is being curbed, the message of which will not go well. Yes, everyone should keep in mind that the right to expression or criticism also applies with some limitations. Therefore, there is a need to recognize and accept them, so that a healthy critical tradition continues to flourish.
This is the reason why the winter meeting of the parliamentary session can be very challenging. Especially in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, because the opposition, which was defeated in the Bihar Assembly elections in 2025, will now be aggressive on SIR. This will also strengthen the unity of the opposition, which will create a new pretense of being divided from within like an orange due to its own political interests, but united from above. Thus, the winter session is going to prove to be a new test in the relations between the government and the opposition. Since this is the first session for Vice President CP Radhakrishnan. Therefore they will have to be alert. Anyway, the experience of the last monsoon session was not good. At that time the productivity of Rajya Sabha was only 38.88% and only 41.15 hours of work could be done. This time also the issue of SIR is hot. Therefore, Radhakrishnan will face the challenge of striking a balance.
It seems that the condition of Lok Sabha will also be similar. Because it cannot be said what the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha will do. It is difficult to predict when and what strategy Lok Sabha leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his emperor Home Minister Amit Shah will use to attack the opposition. Anyway, after the Red Fort Delhi terrorist bomb blast incident, the government’s attitude is aggressive towards the terrorist opposition. The government has become serious about the India Gate urban Naxalite incident. The government has become alert due to the attitude of Congress and Mamata on SIR. Therefore, the opposition will also have to show nationalist sensitivity, otherwise a political Mahabharata is certain. When there is war or love, naturally there will be nefarious attempts to justify everything. This is all that has happened till now, isn’t it?
– Kamlesh Pandey
Senior journalist and political analyst
(This article expresses the author’s own views.)