New Parliament should pave way for renewed democracy

NOSTALGIA FOR OLD BUILDING IS UNDERSTANDABLE, BUT MPs DESERVE COMFORTABLE SEATS AND ACCESS TO MODERN TECHNOLOGY

- Prashant Jha

As India gets ready to embrace a new temple for democracy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi deserves accolades for recognising the need for a new Parliament and pushing forward with its execution in quick time.

The government did this, despite apprehensions from a range of well-meaning citizens. But as a new Parliament is set to host public representatives, it is clear that India did need a new building. Nostalgia for the old is understandable. But parliamentarians deserved to sit on comfortable seats, with access to modern technology. The Parliament itself needed more space given the impending delimitation of constituencies that may well see a dramatic expansion in the number of seats in the Lok Sabha in the coming decade. From safety to comfort, from space to aesthetics, Bimal Patel — the remarkably accomplished architect whose stamp on Modi’s India is reflected from the Sabarmati promenade in Ahmedabad to the Kashi Vishwanath corridor in Varanasi — has delivered yet again.

But the true test of Parliament is not the beauty of its external facade or range of its internal conveniences. Its true test lies in whether the new Parliament can address the dysfunctionality that has become embedded in India’s parliament system and make the legislature an effective voice of the people, a robust check on the executive, and a forum for considered deliberation in the process of law-making. And on all these counts, recent parliamentary record has been disappointing.