More than the Building, the nation needs Better Practices to enable Good Parliamentarians

May 28, 2023, as the nation awaits for the newly built Parliament building to be inaugurated, Lok Ummedwar abhiyaan (Public Candidate movement) firmly believes that the inauguration of the new building should be done in the presence of the President of India, Shrimati Draupadi Murmu, as she is the head of the Constitution. Whether Prime Minister himself wants to cut the ribbon, but exclusion of the President from the function is an alarming sign. 

 Similarly, some political parties have decided to count out of the event. We believe that in a democracy, the opposition and the government should work together in a participatory and constructive manner for the welfare of the state, without competing in everything. It is important for the opposition to engage with the government in a constructive manner, even if they disagree with the government's policies. By working together, the opposition and the government can find solutions to the problems facing the country and make the state a better place for all.

 Convener of Lok Ummedwar abhiyaan, Dr. Munish Raizada, stated that the people of India may be in general agreement over the necessity of constructing a new parliamentary building to accommodate the expanding requirements of our democracy. He added that the building is a symbol and temple of our democracy, but what usually happens in the sanctum sanctorum of the parliament is worrisome for all of us. The larger issues of why our democracy has not been working on an optimal level should be the subject of discussion, and not merely the building. 

Raizada further stated that the political parties have hijacked our democracy. Elaborating further, he said that political parties are public entities and should therefore be brought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. This is necessary to maintain transparency in democracy. We also believe that electoral bonds are the gateway to black money politics, they should be abolished, as they allow for anonymous donations to political parties, which undermines transparency and accountability.

Thirdly, political parties' resistance to inner-party democracy has made them the face of nepotism and individualism. Dr. Raizada said that constructing a new parliamentary building alone will not bring about the change we need,  the parliamentarians sitting there must be willing to bring electoral, political, and other reforms that will ultimately benefit the state. 

Public Candidate is an organization committed to democratic reforms in the country. Its main goals are to empower the NOTA option, abolish electoral bonds, implement one nation one election, introduce the right to recall, and ban big currency notes. It also supports other reforms that will make our democracy fairer and more representative. Read about all the reforms at www.luindia.org