Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Friday, 21st December, 2018 adjourned the Lok Sabha after constant protests by various parties.
The proceedings in the house were obstructed and the Question Hour was wasted in shoutings. The Speaker adjourned the House till noon. However, even the Zero Hour beginning at noon was disrupted shouting and the Speaker once again had to adjourn the house soon after it laid the papers on the table of the House.
One thing is a surety that any from a dysfunctional Parliament is only a loss not only to formulate and discuss pressing matters but also of taxpayers’ money. It can very well be argued that protests in every sense are a part of democracy and objection is a key part but they definitely cannot be an end to itself, can it? And whatever at loss is what actually is of the public.
We have seen protests and stalling in all forms, be it raising slogans or abusing to throwing chairs and creating a ruckus. Don’t you think it is high time to bring in a Code of conduct for the parliamentarians? A set of rules and regulations to be met and behavioral standards, after all, they are representatives of the people and their constituency.
The Lok Sabha has a permanent Standing Committee on Ethics which came into force on 12th August, 2015. The role of the ethics committee is to formulate, enforce and oversee the principled and ethical conduct for members of Parliament.
The behaviour and the accountability of the parliamentarians have been in question due to various reasons such as the usage of inappropriate languages and of not letting the parliament to work due to undue reasons. The issue has been raised in every Lok Sabha since setting up of the committee but has not been taken to its conclusion until now.
Also a Model Code of Conduct should be put in place and heavily scrutinized during elections and rallies as you can clearly observe the way the recent years’ campaigns have turned out to be, a mere blame game but not just that, attacks on all fronts against various leaders of the current and past, disguised or direct abuse and slogans and religious attacks. Very recently the UP CM was heard saying ‘You keep your Ali, for us Bajrang Bali’ in attempt to communalize the process but an attempt to win by creating hatred has been rejected by the voters. One question though remains is formulating a code of conduct a comprehensive solution for current happenings?