About Indian Parliament

It is not a happy picture of India today . We have reached a point in public life where the only definition of culpable self-interest is either theft , bribery or  indecision &  inaction by public servants . That pertains more to   many of our so called Indian parliamentarians ! Dignity of this parliament was sacrificed  or confined to the dust-bins , the day 162  individuals (29.83 %)with criminal charges and 76 (14.00 %)individuals   with serious criminal charges ( Statistics courtesy ADR website)were allowed  to become  MPs and sit inside this ‘temple of democracy’  , using the flawed Indian electoral system and other   illicit electoral means  . From that day the dignity for this Parliament and its members became questionable .

There is also no doubt that there has  been  a  progressive and sharp decline in parliamentary standards of India  , because the political leadership –cutting across all party lines ,  lowered the standards or criteria for selection of a potential parliamentarian . Gone are the days when we had parliamentarians like Lal Bahadur Shastri or Dr S. Radhakrishnan.  Its hard to find a parliamentarian or MLA today who really works for or makes sacrifices for the people or the nation .  No wonder among the  public today there is a deep-rooted cynicism about our parliamentarians & MLA's when they  make tall claims to have a monopoly of knowledge, wisdom and concern for the well-being of their constituencies.  While today some 'democratic' parliamentarians  abuse their oath of office and work only to enrich themselves; many  self-described 'revolutionaries'  seek to settle arguments by money or the point of the gun while a few , even in key positions resort to indecision or inaction , forgetting that  indecision or inaction is even a bigger crime and liable for punishment .

 When parliamentarians & MLA's today , many with questionable moral integrity , make allegations against citizens like Arvind Kejriwal & the media  , they are  forgetting they were sitting  inside  glass houses and  throwing stones. They were forgetting that merely occupying a seat in parliament does not obfuscate their criminal backgrounds and give them the moral high ground to make such allegations . They must remember , the public are not all fools.  Only if  the moral integrity of those in parliament is unquestionably clean , can they claim for the dignity & professional ownership of the parliament. Otherwise not .

Thank God , now these very parliamentarians are today teaching us citizens exactly what we need to be learning & doing : upholding  the dignity of the Indian parliament... atleast in the future by using our votes intelligently  ! Reason why , the social movements like Anna Hazares’ is now become the messenger trying to make this into a topic of discussion  or public debate , so that we can get rid of such parliamentarians and actually clean up the house in the future  . Only serious electoral reforms can ensure a better breed of politicians for India , who will really take care of national & citizens' interests and uphold the dignity of India to the world  .

Meanwhile all the political parties and current MPs instead of today trying to shoot the messenger, while talking about “ dignity of parliament “, "supremacy of parliament " , sanctity of parliament ; exclusive legislation powers of parliament ; sovereignity of parliament etc  ,must first declare their intentions  through an election manifesto or through a written declaration , to clean up the parliament  membership and truthfuly uphold the dignity of the Indian parliament . Or otherwise all such claims while merely sitting inside parliament and  hypocritically pretending to occupy a high moral ground is viewed by the electorate as just hot air by a bunch of individuals  who neither have the qualifications nor capability , but through sheer default of the citizens indifference, occupy seats in parliament  today .