Heed Advani's lament

It’s hard not to be moved by Lal Krishna Advani’s lament that not being able to hold a discussion in the Lok Sabha on demonetisation meant that Parliament had been “defeated”. The country’s top parliamentarian shared his inner anguish with a few MPs hovering near him on Thursday, after the House was adjourned one more time, and said his heart was asking him to “resign” his Lok Sabha seat. A clutch of senior ministers — among them Rajnath Singh, Ananth Kumar and Smriti Irani — who came to know made the right noises, but quickly moved away. One reportedly went to the ridiculous extent of suggesting that the BJP patriarch was indirectly ticking off the Opposition parties for not letting the Winter Session of Parliament function.

Perhaps most ruling party MPs really don’t care whether Mr Advani stays or goes. He is a single MP among some 330-plus of the NDA. But the movers and shakers will be well advised to get off their high horse. They should recall that last week too the patriarch made a searing comment — that neither the parliamentary affairs minister nor the Speaker was able to run the House. Should Mr Advani actually quit in disgust, the ripple effects of the action can have grievous consequences for the BJP. The ruling party must bear in mind that running Parliament is the government’s responsibility, not that of its opponents, and not discussing demonetisation, the most significant economic policy in decades, is to stand the logic of parliamentary democracy on its head.