AA Edit | Chance to build consensus lost in election of Speaker

It is only fair to interpret the mandate of the 2024 general election as a popular call to political parties to shun unilateralism. No single party has got a simple majority in the House and the alliance in power has got just enough numbers to run the government. The mood of the nation was reflected in the words of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the opening day of the new Lok Sabha when he spoke elaborately on the subject of building consensus.

However, it appears that he either did not mean what he said or that the NDA wasted its first opportunity to prove its leader right.

That the 17 previous Lok Sabhas had decided on their custodians by election only three times tells a story that the post of Speaker of the Lok Sabha is considered non-partisan — irrespective of whether or not the leaders who have so far occupied the post followed that principle in practice. The parliamentary tradition of a government with a clear majority in the House allowing the Opposition to choose the deputy speaker also indicates that the Chair in the Lower House of Parliament is the spot where both the ruling side and the Opposition advocating different policies, programmes and perspectives pledge to build consensus on all possible topics.

There indeed was an effort to avoid an election and talks were held between the government side led by senior minister Rajnath Singh and the Opposition. According to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the Opposition offered to support the choice of the NDA for Speaker should the ruling front go by tradition and let it choose the deputy speaker. The INDIA bloc claimed that it was forced to field a candidate after it found the government side non-committal. The saving grace was that the Opposition did not demand a division and facilitated the election of Mr Om Birla as Speaker for a second term by voice vote.

A government is formed on the support of a majority of elected members but the vanquishing of the “loser” is not the vision of democracy. Instead, they remain very much part of the democratic process, both in law-making and policy formulation. It is considered the job of the government, or the “winner”, to be inclusive; and not that of the Opposition to append its consent on the line dotted by the government. It is when both the sides meet half-way and shake hands, as Mr Modi and Mr Gandhi did in the House on Wednesday after the election, that they can take the nation forward. It is unfortunate that the government was found wanting nonetheless, despite its acknowledgement of the need for consensus.  

There is a lesson for the Opposition, too, from the Speaker’s election. With 237 members, a united Opposition is a formidable force that can refuse to be trampled on by the government in the House. There were voices of dissent in the INDIA bloc itself on the decision of fielding a candidate for Speaker; some parties were not on board. The bloc will do well to keep in mind that it also needs to build consensus amongst its own members in order that it may be effective. It must also be mindful of an emaciated and threatened government trying to engineer a split in it.