Parliament | Breakdown of Civility

What started with a security breach in Parliament has led to an ugly impasse, with both the BJP and the Opposition guilty of not upholding House decorum

Opposition MPs of the INDIA bloc protest at Jantar Mantar, Dec. 22; (Photo: PTI)

The winter session of Parliament, which came to an end on December 22, will perhaps go down in Indian history as one where the relationship betw­een a ruling government and the Opposition reached its nadir. In the nearly three-week period, both houses passed 10 bills, including the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, 2023; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, 2023; and Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita, which are set to replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, respectively. But it happened without any debate in Parliament as 143 of the total 316 opposition members—45 per cent—in both houses were suspended.