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Parliaments should be force for action: Sonia
New Delhi, Jan 23: The steady erosion of parliamentary authority the world over calls for introspection as people want the institution to become a force for action instead of being a mere debating society, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today said.
New Delhi, Jan 23: The steady erosion of parliamentary authority the world over calls for introspection as people want the institution to become a force for action instead of being a mere debating society, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today said.
''People have come to expect more than stirring and eloquent speeches and sharp interventions in parliament... It should respond effectively to their new demands and heightened expectations,'' Sonia said in her address at the International Parliamentary Conference on the need for reforms to secure greater executive accountability.
She said the larger public image of parliament had suffered as its deliberations, more often than not, ended up generating more heat than light while people were demanding that the institution become not just a forum for discussion but also a force for action.
''Parliaments everywhere have come in for criticism, invited certain cynicism and even indifference,'' Sonia, who is also the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, said adding that the phenomenon was not peculiar to India alone.
Dwelling on the hypocrisy of political parties, she said one of the ironies of parliamentary democracy was that the stand of the parties on various issues depended on where they sat.
A party discovered the need for a strong and effective executive when it was in power but pleaded for a strong and effective legislature when it was out of office, she observed.
Bureau Report
She said the larger public image of parliament had suffered as its deliberations, more often than not, ended up generating more heat than light while people were demanding that the institution become not just a forum for discussion but also a force for action.
''Parliaments everywhere have come in for criticism, invited certain cynicism and even indifference,'' Sonia, who is also the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, said adding that the phenomenon was not peculiar to India alone.
Dwelling on the hypocrisy of political parties, she said one of the ironies of parliamentary democracy was that the stand of the parties on various issues depended on where they sat.
A party discovered the need for a strong and effective executive when it was in power but pleaded for a strong and effective legislature when it was out of office, she observed.
Bureau Report