Soldiers of Constitution

          By- Pamarty Venkataramana

All those elected by eligible members of the huge population enjoying adult suffrage to represent them in the Lok Sabha for the next five years of India today have become honourable Members of Parliament.This time around though it is almost a one-sided game show on the floors with the single largest opposition party totalling only 52 in the 545 strong House of People. They have bravely dubbed themselves to be a ‘pride of lions’ !

The ‘Pride of Nation’ though undisputedly today is none other than the Honourable Prime Minister of India 🇮🇳.

The beauty of composition of this House is that its members are drawn from different walks of life and varied educational,social and economic backgrounds. This, perhaps is the only glaring example of equality which is implored upon the Nation by the Preamble to the Constitution.

Not all are highly learned or well-educated. Quite a few aren’t shy of stating that they are almost illiterate for they never got to attend a formal school or college.

And, of course there are those that furnished falsified claims of higher education abroad and even degrees from most venerable varsities locates in overseas lands. So much for education being considered as a pre-requisite for donning the most responsible mantle of a Member of Parliament.

In so far as social background is considered,contemporary History has witnessed an auto-driver becoming aviation minister, a car driver in the railways department becoming the railway minister, a tea-vendor rising up to become a most popular Prime Minister, a few business tycoons or thoroughly otherwise sub-standard Vakils becoming Law Ministers, sportspeople becoming blue-eyed boys of Cabinets and even self-styled ascetics (male and female) becoming Members of Parliament drawn to better the lot of their constituents.

Economic justice is as much visible in the presence of poorest citizens winning the hugely funded campaign-battles as in the proxy-candidates spruced up by certain business mandarins. This can only be beaten by the power of certain retired bureaucrats and policemen who bank upon their well-earned experiences in government-service to contest and reach the August House as winners.

That the Constitution itself has reserved seats on basis of caste is apparently an aberration of the fact that we are more than seven decades old free nation and that it is wrong to perpetuate older notions of outcasts in society on criterion of birth or of gruesome ill-treatment meted our ages ago to long dead and gone ancestors of current generations of a common population.

The time has dawned for a much-touted #NewIndia.

Should not the unbridled run of caste-based reservations end?

Must not anybody making a statement against the Sovereignty and integrity of India be disenfranchised automatically?

Should not intelligence-clearance certificate be made a pre-requisite for becoming eligible to file papers before any election to the Parliament?

Must not Members of Parliament be made to declare their assets and liabilities as well as their family-chart prior to taking oath as an elected Member of Parliament?

Must not MPs who are found guilty of moral turpitude be made to resign their seat by the Election Commission which issues the certificate of victory ?

Must not the Constitution itself be amended to prescribe basic educational qualifications as entry requirement to seek to become a M.P.?

There have been reports in the past of horse-trading in corridors of the Parliament and of foreign tours conducted by dubious think-tank bodies or such other outfits floated by foreign spy agencies in far away lands. So,must not M.P.s be screened by a national intelligence agency for escapades and exploits which might compromise national security?

In the light of a constraining situation where India has had to resort to surgical strikes against terror camps in a neighbouring land,and in an age where local media figures are openly supporting anti-India lobbies, a Member of Parliament cannot any longer be a superhero having free access everywhere and reigning as a demi-God : the M.P. should be a devotee of the nation and accountability must be the first benchmark to measure his or her adherence to the oath administered on entering the Parliament.

Who are the bevy of private staff groomed by a Member of Parliament with almost unrestricted access ? How many get cleared by security agency of the Parliament or Home Ministry of the honourable Government of India? How many members are affiliated to lobbyist-groups and foreign political bodies?

A #NewIndia should ponder over the reforms essential to turn the House of Parliament into a robust institution and the body of sagacity which the founding fathers of Constitution of India intended it to be.

There may be a one hundred and fifty billion other suggestions to fortify the Parliament into the Palace of Sages and not merely a den for a wounded pride of lions in the opposition or a tiger leading ahead of elephants and ‘giant-killers’ .

There have been many stalwarts too that rose to pilot ,debate and move momentous Bills that later became life pouring Laws-  for the multicultural, multilingual country :’India, that is Bharat !’

Let every Member of Parliament justly be regarded to be the apostle of Mankind, Democracy and Peace.

 Jai Hind 🇮🇳