Is Parl being held hostage because MPs are out of touch with voters?

With the Parliament facing a deadlock every day, what do young MPs feel about the politics that is emerging in India? Is much needed development being held hostage to hostile politics? Speaking to Sagarika Ghose on CNN-IBN, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said how he had reached out to Sushma Swaraj who had called for the party not to allow Parliament to function. “If you are going to boycott the Parliament because you don’t agree with the government, then wrong because that’s what the Parliament is for. You should raise the issues in the Parliament,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_746677” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Three young MPs (L-R) - BJ Panda, Sanjay Jaiswal and Shashi Tharoor. IBNLive.[/caption] Tharoor has also edited a collection of essays by young Parliamentarians called India: The future is now. The book features candid writings from young MPs about their experiences in solving the problems that the world’s largest democracy faces today. However, BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal, who has also contributed to this volume, said, “The logjam that you are talking about exists only in the Parliament. Otherwise, the Standing Committees are performing quite well.” Tharoor pointed out that even if the Standing Committees did perform, the proposals need to be formulated and the bill need to be passed, which sadly does not happen due to the non-cooperation of the Opposition. According to BJD’s BJ Panda, this logjam is what is called a ‘democracy tax’. “The degree of tax that we are paying is much more than what is required. The ordinary Indian does not care about the nuances. There are structural issues that need to be addressed which is not happening,” he said. He said that the main reason behind Parliament not functioning is because politicians are out of touch with their voters. “The generation of politics that run the country have cut their teeth in a per-coalition era. Just because you have won an election does not mean people will listen to you,” Panda said. In other countries people take time and patience to sell their ideas which is unfortunately completely missing in India, he added. Do these MPs see a potential for change from this politics to something that will propel India once again on the growth path of the 21st century? “There are two kinds of people - the status quo-ists and the people who are willing to make a change. The numbers will increase on the other side and that will bring about change,” he said. However, this change will have to be participatory, failing which, it will not reflect in the development of the country, he added.