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Vandita Mishra writes: There’s a queue outside the new Parliament door
From the Balasore train tragedy to the stonewalling of women wrestlers’ protests by the powerful — when it reconvenes, the House must let these issues in
The new Parliament building was inaugurated in the capital on Sunday. For now, the inauguration and the tragedy stand far apart, in two different countries almost. But in days to come, the distance will have to be bridged, and the new Parliament in Delhi will need to open its doors to a sober and serious reckoning with what happened in Balasore. (File Photo/PTI)
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Vandita Mishra writes: There’s a queue outside the new Parliament door
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The devastating train accident at Balasore has cast a pall over the nation in a week that began with a national House-warming. The new Parliament building was inaugurated in the capital on Sunday. For now, the inauguration and the tragedy stand far apart, in two different countries almost. For now, the sombre urgency is to clear the debris, count the dead, and look after the survivors of the train crash.
But in days to come, the distance will have to be bridged, and the new Parliament in Delhi will need to open its doors to a sober and serious reckoning with what happened in Balasore. So that lessons are learnt, and so that it does not happen again.
The Congress has done well, in this moment of terrible loss and grief that has enveloped so many families, to resist the temptation of the blame-game. There will be time and room for asking questions later, about whether the much-needed modernisation project of the Indian Railways is paying the required attention to all its parts, especially those that concern safety and congestion and replacement of over-aged infrastructure.
The exact cause of the derailment and collision involving two passenger trains and a goods train at Balasore is not yet clear — and it won’t be until the high-level probe announced by the minister and the independent inquiry by the commissioner of railway safety complete their work. But if the CAG report for major accidents between 2017 and 2020-21 tabled in Parliament is indication, Parliament will have much to talk about when it discusses Balasore — the report said that nearly three in four of 217 “consequential train accidents” across the country in that period were caused due to derailments, that the major factor that was responsible was “maintenance of tracks”, and that allotment of funds for track renewal has declined over the years, with even available finds not “fully utilised”. Alongside building new stations and renovating old ones, and flagging off new trains, track maintenance must receive its due priority, and funds.
Away from the tragedy at Balasore, other issues and concerns are also queueing up at the new Parliament door.
The protests of the women wrestlers who have accused Wrestling Federation of India president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment have raised questions that must enter the House. Last week, the wrestlers had set a five-day deadline for action against Singh. The government has not responded so far, but even when it does, as it hopefully will soon, what will still remain to be talked about in Parliament is: Why should it have come to this?
Why must women who have won medals for the nation and done it proud, who made their place in male-dominated akhadas by fighting odds and constraints inside and outside their homes, have to sit on a dharna and sleep in the open, for days and weeks, to make themselves heard against a powerful man? Can “due process” be used as ear muffs for the government and as sheild for the influential accused? How can the ruling party and government turn away from the horrific accounts in the two FIRs filed with Delhi Police on April 28, one of them under POCSO?
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Does the commitment to empowerment of the girl child in political posters and slogans not extend to listening to the woman when she speaks up and fights back? These not-so-new questions must at least be asked in the new Parliament so that a search for answers can begin.
In Manipur this week, Home Minister Amit Shah asked for a 15-day reprieve from the violent confrontation between ethnic groups so that normalcy can come back in. When Parliament reconvenes, all MPs, from the Northeast, and from other parts of the country, must talk about the next steps to build an enduring peace that includes Kukis and Meiteis, straddles the hills and valleys both. It will take restoring people’s trust in the political leadership, and for the people’s representatives, in turn, to set aside short-term interests and focus on the task of a longer and deeper healing.
When it reconvenes at its new address, Parliament must also take up the report by the law commission that has just come in, which has suggested hardening the sedition law. Earlier, the government’s stand in the Supreme Court had raised hopes that the law, which lends itself to much misuse to curb citizens’ freedom to dissent, would be diluted or done away with. The law panel’s report quotes National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s speech to IPS officers to justify the need for a sedition law. In that speech, Doval had spoken of a “civil society” that can be “subverted, divided and manipulated to hurt the interest of the nation”. In an open, diverse and argumentative democracy, the pitting of “civil society” against “nation” and “national interest” is itself disturbing and chilling — it can hardly provide justification for a harsh law that can be used by the government to clamp down on fundamental freedoms. Parliament needs to talk about this.
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Many other issues await the attention of the people’s representatives. The parties of the Opposition, which stayed away from the inauguration of Parliament’s new premises, must troop back in when the House reopens so that these can be addressed. These parties have made their point to the government, they must now get down to the job entrusted to them by the people — of raising concerns, asking questions and calling power to account.
With parliamentary polls less than a year away, they can ill afford to waste the time and space that they have. The people are watching.
Till next week,
Vandita
Must Read Opinions from the week:
– Ram Madhav, “Indian Dharmocracy”, June 3
– Editorial, “Break the silence”, June 1
– Nirmala Sitharaman, “The challenge of change”, May 30
– Editorial, “Ringing in the new, letting the light in”, May 29
Also Read
– Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, “We, the People, versus I, the PM”, May 29
First published on: 04-06-2023 at 19:19 IST
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