BREAKDOWN OF CIVILITY

What started with a security breach in Parliament has led to an ugly impasse, with both the BJP and the Opposition guilty of not upholding House decorum

- Kaushik Deka

The winter session of Parliament, which came to an end on December 22, will perhaps go down in Indian history as one where the relationship between a ruling government and the Opposition reached its nadir. In the nearly three-week period, both houses passed 10 bills, including the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, 2023; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, 2023; and Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita, which are set to replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, respectively. But it happened without any debate in Parliament as 143 of the total 316 opposition members-45 per cent-in both houses were suspended.

In the process, several undesirable records too were set, such as the suspension of 78 MPs on December 18, the highest on a single day. What triggered this unprecedented record in what was the penultimate Parliament session before the general election next year?

It was the ruckus that erupted in both houses following the Opposition's demand for a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah on the security breach in the Lok Sabha on December 13 this year, the 22nd anniversary of the Parliament attack by a five-member suicide squad. This time, two men with smoke canisters jumped down from the visitors' gallery and leapt across the desks of LS members spraying smoke. The unemployed youth were reportedly unhappy with the policies of the BJP government and wanted to grab the PM's attention.