The raising slogans, walk outs, a boycott of proceedings, holding of a parallel address and subsequent suspension or expulsion of all those members who defy the chair and decorum of the House have become a part of the drill that follows the start of every session of the State Legislature, not only in Punjab, but elsewhere also.

Intriguingly, while there is growing criticism of fewer and shrinking sessions of the legislature, and when they are held, disruptions are so frequent that a major portion of the legislative business is transacted only by the Treasury benches.

The start of the Punjab Budget session was no different. The Governor’s repeated requests to members of the Opposition to listen to his ceremonial inaugural address of a new session met with no success. Ultimately, he had to leave with a comment that his address be treated as read.

The growing tendencies to Oppose and protest all actions on the part of the Treasury Benches do not appear to be going well with the norms as laid down in the Procedures of Vidhan Sabha.

Though the Rules provide for certain sanctities, niceties, and formalities to be completed as a respect to the Chair, yet in practice, these have been reduced to mere print outs that are seldom read and followed.

There are instances when the Governors have started refusing to read out the address given to them after the recommendation of the State Council of Ministers. In other cases, it is Opposition that creates a situation that the Governor’s address gets lost in the din of the noise it makes.

The decorum of showing respect to the Constitutional Head of the State for his or her customary address at the opening session appears to have lost all its sanctity.

Instances of Governors walking out in a huff or in protest are becoming far too frequent. The conflicts between the Governors and elected governments, too, are increasingly becoming subject of legal scrutiny.

Issues that Opposition wants to raise are important not because they concern people or a common man but more because the Opposition wants to use them as a hammer to bash the ruling party. The sufferer is all powerful legislature that even in the absence of entire Opposition can approve and pass Bills and lass that directly concern masses.

Are people being denied a right to hear or watch proceedings, healthy debates and discussions on problems and issues confronting the entire State in general and them in particular.

But no one feels concerned. The Opposition wants to hawk media headlines, may be at the cost of niceties of legislative procedures and decorum. Who cares?

(Prabhjot Singh is a veteran journalist with over three decades of experience of 14 years with Reuters News and 30 years with The Tribune Group, covering a wide spectrum of subjects and stories. He has covered Punjab and Sikh affairs for more than three decades besides covering seven Olympics and several major sporting events and hosting TV shows.)