When Parliament Becomes a Stage for Distraction

 

When Parliament Becomes a Stage for Distraction

Hindi Version: https://rakeshinsightfulgaze.blogspot.com/2025/12/blog-post_8.html

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The tone of India’s Parliament was captured in a single moment. When Priyanka Gandhi asked the Speaker to prepare a comprehensive list of every criticism the ruling party had of Jawaharlal Nehru, so the House could spend forty straight hours reciting it and then move on to real governance, she exposed the emptiness of the political theatre unfolding in the country’s highest institution. A Speaker committed to fairness would have understood the point. Instead, the cycle of diversion continued.

Public life always encourages debate about past leaders, and such debate can be healthy when grounded in history and linked to present challenges. What we see today is something different. Emotional rhetoric and selective memory have begun to replace serious policy discussion. Much of the discourse coming from senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggests a shift away from governance toward distraction and deflection.

Parliament is meant to be the nation’s most serious forum. Citizens expect their representatives to address poverty, unemployment, economic growth, education, public safety, and the pressures that shape daily life. Yet the House spends hours on symbolic issues that offer no solutions. A ten-hour debate on Vande Mataram does not create jobs or reduce crime. It does not strengthen institutions. It does not lift families out of distress. It simply consumes the time that Parliament exists to serve.

At the same time, the Prime Minister frequently frames himself as a target of unfair criticism. Leadership is not served by recounting personal grievances. A head of government cannot treat political disagreement as an attack on his identity. A mature democracy requires leaders who absorb criticism, answer it with policy, and keep the national agenda at the center of their work. India deserves that steadiness at the top.

The rise of the current leadership was supported by powerful corporate interests that saw opportunity in elevating a figure who would align with their priorities. Critics argue that this partnership has come at the cost of India’s long-term well-being. The nation is not being sold to the highest bidders but to those who appear to be the highest bidders, even as their growth is financed by public money. Large corporate groups receive loans from state-backed institutions, expand their reach with taxpayer funds, and later benefit from waivers or restructuring that erase their obligations. Public wealth ends up building private empires, which then shape national policy. This is not a competitive marketplace. It is a transfer of resources from citizens to a select few, framed as economic progress.

This trend raises a larger question about the responsibilities of citizens. What do we call those who understand the harm in these actions but continue to support them? The issue is not ideology. The issue is whether educated citizens will allow the erosion of institutions that protect their own freedoms. Ignorance is one problem. Indifference is another. Both can cost a nation its future.

Generations of Indians were historically denied education, and large communities still struggle to access it. That reality leaves people vulnerable to narratives built on ritual and spectacle rather than fact. When national leaders amplify those spectacles and elevate them to the level of governance, they strengthen habits that push the country backward. Responsible leadership demands attention to real problems, not a retreat into symbolism dressed as strength.

Parliamentary sessions should serve as a transparent review of the government’s performance. They should provide space for the opposition to ask critical questions and for the government to give honest, data-driven answers. When this process is replaced with distractions, it signals a government unwilling to confront its own record. Corruption thrives where truth is obscured, and distraction is often the first tool used to create that cover.

A public that accepts this drift pays a heavy price. Institutions weaken. Accountability fades. The nation becomes more vulnerable to misuse of power, both from within and outside. India’s democratic strength has always depended on an informed citizenry and leadership willing to face scrutiny. When either weakens, the consequences become inevitable.

India still can demand better. The question now is whether the public will insist on leadership that addresses real problems or continue to tolerate distractions that serve only those in power.