Anger Over Government’s ‘No Question Hour’ Move For Parliament Session

New Delhi:

After a huge outcry over the scrapping of Question Hour in parliament for the coming session, the government has said it would allow “unstarred questions” — meaning those that will receive written answers. The turnaround came after the government’s claim that that Question Hour was dropped only after discussions with opposition leaders and at the time, no one but Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’ Brien had objected.

Union minister Pralhad Joshi, who said this to NDTV,  added that TMC’s leader in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay, has agreed to the move. “It is not good that after agreeing, leaders start saying in public that they don’t agree,” the Parliamentary Affairs Minister told NDTV.

The plan to drop Question Hour in the short session that would begin on September 14 after a five-month gap, has triggered a row, with various leaders accusing the government of stifling the voice of the opposition.

With session timings cut down to roughly four hours a day, the government has also done away with Private Members’ business, the hour set aside for bills put up by MPs. The Zero Hour — slotted for members to raise matters of public importance — has been limited to 30 minutes.

The opposition’s contention is that it gives them no opportunity to raise and discuss matters they consider important. Among the most vocal is Derek O’Brien, who has accused the government of “murdering democracy” in the name of coronavirus.

“MPs required to submit questions for Question Hour in Parliament 15 days in advance. Session starts 14 September. So Question Hour cancelled ? Opposition MPs lose right to question govt. A first since 1950? Parliament overall working hours remain same so why cancel Question Hour? Pandemic excuse to murder democracy,” he tweeted.

Today, Mr Joshi said, “We discussed the option to drop the Question Hour and issued notification only after everyone agreed except Derek O’Brien”.

The logic, he said, was also explained to each leader — that for every question related to ministries, a huge number of officers are required to be present in the Parliament complex. Each day in the Question Hour, there are 20 questions listed. This he said, presented the problem of repeated sanitation, which is time consuming. But most leaders, especially the elderly, wanted that House be would up as quickly as possible. The government, he added, is ready to discuss all the issues.

“Rajnath Singh and I spoke to all the senior leaders. We spoke to all major and minor parties. Except Derek O’Brien, no one objected. Everyone said there is a pandemic situation, so we agree. Sudip Bandhopadhyay agreed He is leader of Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha,” Mr Joshi added.

The minister also said that other opposition leaders like Congress’s Ghulam Nabi Azad, Janata Dal Secular chief HD Devegowda and Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar have agreed.

But shortly after, Congress’s Anand Sharma tweeted his reservations, calling the decision “arbitrary, shocking and undemocratic”.

“Parliament Sessions are not meant only for government business but also scrutiny and accountability of Government,” Mr Sharma tweeted.

“Delayed monsoon session of Parliament is one of special significance after the lockdown and phased unlocking. proposal to exclude Question hour is arbitrary, shocking and undemocratic. It is Members privilege and the very life of a session,” another tweet read.