Jammu, Aug. 13 -- Another session of Parliament has closed with an uncomfortable sense of deja vu. Repeated adjournments, slogan-shouting, demonstrations inside and outside the chambers and legislation moving through amid uproar have again raised the question of whether Parliament is performing the function for which representative democracy created it. The problem is no longer simply that precious parliamentary time is being wasted. The deeper problem is that political debate itself is migrating elsewhere.
The current Monsoon Session, scheduled for 19 sittings between July 20 and August 13, has repeatedly been disrupted by confrontations between the government and the Opposition, including demands for ministerial statements and protests o...