The monsoon session of Parliament which was adjourned sine die on Wednesday seven days ahead of schedule due to 'fear of Covid-19' will be remembered for long. Even if cut short, it has been extremely eventful marked with some ‘unprecedented happenings’. While there will be wide scope to argue that the pandemonium of the nature and degree as witnessed in the just-concluded session is very much a part of parliamentary proceedings, the most extraordinary feature which factually is highly contrasting and discomforting vis-à-vis the institution’s chequered past, will be the marked deviation from established procedural norms, that over the years have become hallmarks of its greatness.

The session commenced with a discord of an unprecedented kind since there was a full purging of  Question Hour and Zero Hour was also reduced to a token formality. Despite citing the pandemic as the sole reason, it has hardly been convincing and will stand out as one of the weird decisions taken in the functioning of Indian Parliament. What followed next will also be incomprehensible. The farm bills which intend to bring ‘path-breaking changes’ in the country’s agriculture canvas have seen blazing speed in presentation as well as passage. It requires no extensive deliberation to drive home the point that these bills are nothing ordinary as their effects would directly affect the sector which still is the trusted contributor to the overall economy. Here it’s necessary to note that despite the omnipresent economic contraction as a result of the pandemic and lockdowns, it’s only the agriculture sector which has made progress, even if marginally. Revisiting the history of Parliament, it can be found that discussions on matters of serious national importance from all angles possible, to arrive at a consensus is the norm and it’s here the role of Standing Committees become important. But unfortunately, the demand of scrutiny of the farm bills by a Select Committee of RS as raised by the opposition was rejected outright. It may sound presumptive, but it’s hard to drive away the thought that had there been this phase of discussion which might have given way to agreeable alterations in the bills' content, much of the discord erupting among the farming community might have been avoided. On Tuesday, as many as seven bills were rushed through in the RS within a span of just three hours in front of a house boycotted by the opposition, which is not a health sign of democracy.

Indian Parliament has always been viewed as a temple of democracy and the finest arena for debates and it’s through these talks many a consensus-based solution that directly impacted common people had emerged over the years. This time, the consensus, or at least an effort to it has been replaced by blatant unilateralism. It’s a session better forgotten.