Aside from the din of intolerance, and
the disastrous Chennai rains, no channel will have time to cover a
debate, which I feel has long term and significant impact on all of
us.
On 26th November 2015, Bijayant 'Jay'
Panda wrote an article, 'Less check, more balance: Reforms mustreduce Rajya Sabha’s power to block the popular mandate,unparalleled globally'. This opinion challenged the conventionally
held power by the indirectly elected representatives of the Rajya
Sabha, and asked for the reforms to come within. And cited several
examples of how the upper houses in several other countries such as
the UK, Italy reformed themselves for the greater good of the
democracy and the country.
Mr. Panda also calls for a direct
election of the members of Rajya Sabha if they believe their
unbridled powers of veto (to put it loosely) are not to be
questioned.
In response, what did Mr. Panda get in
return? A 'privileged motion', by a few privileged members of the
parliament. A privileged motion may raise questions on, guess what? A
breach of privilege.
What is the 'breach of privilege', I am
tempted to ask, if one voices the opinion on reforms? Shouldn't the
reformation come from within? I firmly believe that the Rajya Sabha
needs to be reformed for the greater good of the country, and have a
blog post 'Does India Need Radical Constitutional Reform' on this topic.
If the democracy has to win, then a
reform has to start...and sooner the better. Otherwise, we will be
back to 1792, and our parliament will resemble a motley crew of the
French nobility and the clergy!
