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‘Not the first time Question Hour is being suspended’: BJP

Hindustan Times, New Delhi | BySmriti Kak Ramachandran | Edited by Sparshita Saxena
Sep 03, 2020 10:44 PM IST

The Opposition criticised the move and alleged it as an attempt to throttle the Opposition’s voice in Parliament.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday defended the government’s decision to do away with the Question Hour during the upcoming monsoon session that starts on September 14. The party said that this was not the first time when a set procedure had been dispensed with owing to exigencies.

While the government has given its nod to allowing unstarred questions, or written questions that ministers need to reply to instead of allowing answers to be given in person, the Opposition has criticised the move and alleged it as an attempt to throttle the Opposition’s voice in Parliament and amounted it to “murder of democracy”.

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As per BJP functionaries aware of the details, 160 unstarred questions will be answered by the government, apart from Special Mentions by MPs to bring matters of importance to the notice of the government.

A senior functionary aware of the details said, “Question hour was done away with in the years 1962, 1975, 1976, 1991, 2004 and 2009 for various reasons. While in 1975 and 1976 it was on account of the Emergency.”

Also read: No question hour at 2-day Bengal assembly session, BJP claims, it shows TMC’s double standard

The party has been vociferously defending the government’s decision by pointing out that the ongoing pandemic has imposed restrictions on every aspect of daily life and its impact can be felt on Parliamentary proceedings as well. The party also maintained that the decision has not been made without consulting other party leaders.

“Almost all the opposition leaders accepted that the country is in an extraordinary situation because of this health emergency. The Presiding Officers of both the Houses have received a letter from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs informing that the government consulted different political parties and that there was a broad consensus, barring one political party, on doing away with the Question Hour. Based on that consensus among the opposition parties, the government requested the Presiding Officers to do away the Question Hour and Private Members Business for this session,” the functionary said.

As per the expected schedule, Parliament is likely to take up issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the state of the economy and other developments that will be brought before the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) and agreed upon.

Parliament will also take up as many as 11 ordinances that were passed between March and September.

Congress party’s Adhir Ranjan Choudhary had written to Lok Sabha Speaker OM Birla last week urging him to reconsider the decision and said curtailing the Question Hour and the Zero Hour by way of restricting the number of issues that could be raised and time earmarked would, therefore, not be in the interest of elected representatives.

The BJP, however, lashed out at the Congress and the other political opponents including the TMC and the NCP, by pointing out that state assemblies, including Kerala, Rajasthan and Punjab, all non-BJP ruled states have held sessions where the laid down procedures were deviated from.

“Punjab is ruled by the Congress party. In Rajasthan, where the Congress is ruling, the Assembly met just for 4 days. There was no Question Hour and No Zero Hour and 13 bills were passed without much discussion. In Maharashtra, where a 2-day session is proposed, there is going to be no Question Hour and no Zero Hour. In Uttar Pradesh, a bigger state, there was no Question Hour and No Zero Hour and also in many other states like Andhra Pradesh,” the functionary said.

To counter posers that the business hours could be stretched to accommodate Question Hour, the party said with each House meeting only for 4 hours a day, it would take away the time required for transacting other business, including taking up ordinances.

Referring to the disruptions that have led to the loss of working hours in both Houses, the party said during 2015-19, only about 40 percent of the total available Question Hour time was availed to raise questions and obtain oral responses of the Government during the Question Hour. “As a result, 60 percent of the Question Hour time went unused on account of disruptions etc. During 2015-19, Rajya Sabha held a total of 332 sittings. During this period, a total time of 332 hours was available for the Question Hour at the rate of one hour for each sitting,” the functionary quoted above said.

The opposition parties, however, continued to attack the government. The NCP on Thursday accused the BJP of using the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to cancel the Question Hour in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament to “hide its failures” on multiple fronts.

Chakshu Roy, Head of Legislative and Civic Engagement, PRS Legislative Research said, “American Supreme Court Judge Louis Brandeis once remarked that sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman. The role of Question Hour in a legislature is similar. MPs by asking questions shine light on the functioning of the government. This parliamentary mechanism also allows government to widely disseminate authentic information about its functioning and dispel rumours. Effectively utilised, it enables MPs to discharge their constitutional duty of keeping a check on the functioning of the government.”

He said responses to the questions of MPs also allows the government to review its work and determine whether it’s on the right path.

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