No ‘no business’ like Parliament business

Like the office in our post-Covid WFH era, Parliament has become a habit, not a place for work. While the description may rattle the more nostalgic among us, the truth is that MPs attending Parliament is really about filling up the time between elections. It’s the break between bingewatching episodes of the OTT show about vote-gathering contests. That parliamentary sessions are regular no-shows are no longer headline news. Debates are conducted inside TV studios and opinions aired’n’shared on hashtagged social media. Policy announcements are standalone fanfares that need better venues than central halls.

If elections are described as the ‘dance of democracy’, parliamentary business is when the DJ takes a break. Election campaigns hog our attention, politicians making announcements-the more outrageous the better-capture our imagination, and press releases do the job for those who are still on a ‘balanced’ parliamentary democracy diet. Lok and Rajya Sabha business has boiled down to dour ‘sabha’ fare, even with choreographed dhamakas of walkouts and washed-out sessions trying to make something out of democratic nothing. So, if Parliament is really about ensuring that a large building in central Delhi is put to use by club members from time to time lest it be taken over by others putting it to better use, why have it? HR, any thoughts?