Silence and silencing are useful weapons. The prime minister’s silence on selected subjects and his eloquence in others — the triumph of his policies and the Opposition’s hurtfulness — are not entirely new. What was startling, however, was the frankness with which questions and comments by Opposition leaders, not abusive or unparliamentary but integral to the motions of thanks to the president’s speech, were expunged from Parliament’s records. Questions relating to the rise of the industrialist, Gautam Adani, his alleged ability to land government contracts and loans from nationalised banks, his supposed friendship with the prime minister, the government’s apparent resistance to any inquiry including a joint parliamentary committee one, the inactivity of regulatory and financial investigative bodies that jump to attention when dissenters are concerned and other related matters raised by Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha and by the Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge, in the Rajya Sabha were inked out. This was done at the instance of the Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla, and the Rajya Sabha chairman, Jagdeep Dhankhar, respectively. The chairs of the Speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairperson symbolically represent the protection of free speech. This ensures that the two Houses of Parliament become arenas for detailed debates between the government and the Opposition, so that all opinions can be aired and considered and excesses checked. Parliament is the representational edifice of democracy.
It is, thus, the spirit and function of democracy that are being openly threatened. There can be no democracy when the Lok Sabha Speaker allows the erasure of questions from the Opposition with no explanation or the Rajya Sabha chairman repeatedly answers an Opposition leader on behalf of the government or demands authentication for the issues he raises. Another Opposition leader was suspended with little regard for the rules of suspension and Rajya Sabha was adjourned by the chairman when the Opposition demanded revocation of the suspension and a JPC inquiry into matters relating to Mr Adani. The point of these exercises may appear puzzling. The tech-savvy government must be aware that the expunged sections would be readily available through social media. Their substance, at least, would be common knowledge. So is the muscle-flexing to demonstrate that the time for democratic rights and structures has run out? Courage has many faces: perhaps collective silencing is one of them.