The old Parliament building.
Credit: PTI Photo
CPI MP Binoy Viswam on Sunday wrote to President Droupadi Murmu, raising concern over the upcoming special session of Parliament not having question hour and zero hour while urging her to intervene to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution'.
In his letter to the President, the Rajya Sabha MP said the system of checks and balances envisaged in the Constitution is under a 'major threat'.
With the special session, the government intends to give a message that a 'parliamentary majority has enabled them to completely do away with the parliamentary system,' the Communist Party of India MP claimed.
A session of both Houses of Parliament will be held from September 18 to 22 without Question Hour or private members' business, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha secretariats have said.
According to the secretariats, the session will have five sittings and members will be informed about the provisional calendar separately.
Viswam expressed 'utter disappointment' by the way the government proceeded to convene the Session.
"It was informed through the summons, that this special session shall not have any of the functions that Parliament as a legislature has always performed. It will not have zero hour, question hour or private member's day," he said.
Viswam said no agenda for the Special Session has been circulated.
"In our form of government, the function of Parliament is to keep the government accountable to the people. However, these actions make one wonder whether this session will be an executive parliament, replacing the House where debates, discussions and dissents took place," he said.
The CPI MP alleged that the government has 'stifled' members from discussing issues of utmost importance like the Manipur violence, Adani revelations and the Pegasus snooping issue' in previous sessions.
"At the same time, several laws with far-reaching consequences were passed hurriedly with little or no debate. In light of these attempts to make the Parliament ineffective, it appears that with this special session, the government intends to give a clear message that a parliamentary majority has enabled them to completely do away with the parliamentary system.
"The intention is to make Parliament a Bhakt Jan Samiti with no place for discussion," he alleged.
In the letter, Viswam said, "Hon'ble Rashtrapati ji, you are sworn to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and in these extraordinary circumstances, I request your intervention to preserve the parliamentary system."
"Your intervention can allow parliamentary sessions to be a platform where questions and matters of importance are raised and deliberated upon, as they should in a Parliament," he added.