New Delhi: The democratic system of India is designed around striking a balance between the three pillars — legislature, executive and judiciary — Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday. He was speaking after releasing a book, titled “Democratic Contestations And Legislative Process in India”, written by Raghab P Dash, Joint Secretary, Rajya Sabha. The book explores the domain of executive-legislature relationship in the context of lawmaking in India.
“The primary constitutional framework has three pillars. There is a system in place to maintain a balance between the three,” Pradhan said, as he explored answers to the question — who really makes laws in the country?
He added that Parliament’s role is not just limited to the latent spirit of legislature, it also has a social responsibility.
“Representing the people, raising their issues, Parliament is the forum for that,” he said. Speaking at the event earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Bhartruhari Mahtab said while members of Parliament are called lawmakers, “But are we? Are we the lawmakers?”
“We are not. Law is drafted by the executive, it is piloted by another executive inside the House. The members only discuss and debate, deliberate and ultimately, decide by a majority vote,” he said.
Mahtab also said while the book does not touch upon the judiciary, it is the “hot topic” these days.
“Nowadays, that is the hot topic for discussion…. It is related to the legislature and the judiciary. And there are big shots who are also contemplating, who are commenting on that,” he said, without taking any names.
Both Pradhan and Mahtab recalled the 2014 pepper-spray incident that happened in the Lok Sabha.
Pradhan said when BR Ambedkar framed the Constitution, he may not have imagined that “ginger spray” would become a part of the democratic system someday.
“Babasaheb framed the Constitution, which gave the institutional framework for adopting the democratic form of governance…. He must never have thought that ginger spray would become a part of it someday,” he said.
On February 13, 2014, then Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal used pepper spray in Parliament, reportedly in a bid to stall the tabling of the Telangana Bill — a legislation to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.
