Adnan Farooqui

If I were a member of the parliament.

Being a Parliamentarian is not merely a perk of being in power, its not about having front row seats to the political drama that takes place every single day in the Parliament and its not about maintaining your face value, as a "respectable" Parliamentarian. What I aim to achieve in the next few paragraphs, is that I shall try to explain to the best of abilities, the righteous duties of a Parliamentarian, and of course, logically linking to the topic as to what I can do, if I were a member of the Parliament.

First, let's start with looking at how the Parliament functions. You have the members of the Parliament, who have the legal obligation to attend, whenever a session is called. There is a Speaker, who may be taken as the Convener or the Custodian of the House, (House refers to the Parliament). It is the Speaker's job to maintain the decorum of the House and also preside over the day to day proceedings of the House. Next to the Speaker, is the Deputy Speaker, who assumes role as acting Speaker when required or necessary. A Sargent-at-arms is also present, to enforce law and order in the House. The Parliament is a prestigious institution, where elective representatives from all over the country come and run the affairs of the Government. Without an impartial Parliament, it is impossible for a Government, either a Democracy or a Monarchy, to function.

The proceedings in the House start with the Calling Attention Notice, in which any member of the Parliament may stand up, address the Speaker, and convey whatever issue his or her constituency might be facing, to be resolved as soon as possible. It is compulsory for every member to address the Speaker and not any individual member in any of the Government or Opposition benches. Doing so, results in clear violations of the code of conduct of the Parliament. With the Calling Attention Notices taken care of, the house then moves on to discuss the motions that may be brought forward by either the Government or the Opposition. The motions are discussed, which are generally followed by a heated debate by both the benches, as obviously and logically with irrationality being universal, is inevitable as every bench would push forward it's own personal agendas and manifestos. On the motion, resolutions are drafted which are then put in the house for voting. If the bill gets two thirds majority it is passed, if not a unanimous vote. If voting criterion are not met, the bill is officially rejected and buried under the plethora of already rejected resolutions. A question answer session is also conducted, where concerned Government officials are grilled with menacing questions from the opposition benches. This is how, a true Parliament works.

There needs to be a mental revolution in the minds of the masses. I need to understand my fundamental obligations if I were to become a member of the Parliament. What are those particular obligations? I should first comprehend the fact that I was not invited in the Parliament, I was sent there by the voters in my constituency. Why was I sent there? To serve those very voters to the fullest of my abilities, to abide by those syllables which articulated my way to taking oath in the Parliament. These are some fundamentals that every Parliamentarian must grab on to, in order to maintain a good image among the common masses. It would be illogical for me to generalize my approach as a Parliamentarian to every country, so I'll assume the fact that I get to be a part of MY country's Parliament. The first thing I would do, as a member of the Parliament, would be proposing the Prime Minister to form a Standing Committee, since I'm not a believer of forward bloc politics, whose sole purpose would be to audit the expenses of all the members of the House. Then after having recruited members for the Committee, I shall put forward a motion in the house, which would direct the Government to cut all expenses and allowances of every member of the Parliament to be cut in half, and that of every Government official to be thoroughly revised along with the perks. Why should such a need arise ? Well, for the greater good of course. It would be wrong for me, to let the Government spend hundreds of millions of rupees on its already well-off members, than those who really need it, probably the flood victims in my inundated constituency. . I believe that having the expenses and allowances revised of everyone, and en-acting a policy that would ensure complete transparency in using those saved funds for the betterment of the general masses.

One would assume, that this would be a very tedious task, presenting a bill in front of hundreds of Parliamentarians, and excepting them to agree on something that actually restricts their luxurious lifestyles. This is exactly where the miracle of politics works. Basing my arguments on tautology, would definitely make them irrefutable. Having the Committee take a stand for the motion, would also improve the chances of the bill getting passed, and of course, "acquaintances" in the Opposition benches make it all the more easier, though only if you can spin the web of politics.

With great power, comes great responsibility. We've all heard this a lot, its time we actually start assuming that responsibility. When you can't mend a system, then change the system. Its time dirty politics was bid farewell, its a time of revolution. A bloodless revolution which will move in stages. Initial stage, mental revolution in the masses, invoking awareness and sense of citizenship in the people. Secondary stage, uprooting of societal evils, strict enforcement of the law and the final stage, whose backdrop has already been set by the initial and secondary stages, will be the one where a new system will emerge from the ashes of time, a system with emancipated women, a system with empowered youth, a system with independent judiciary, a system with transparent economy, a system ensuring freedom of speech and expression, a system far better than the widely abused Democracy, whose roots have been corrupted by those very people, who swore upon God to protect it. Sent from my BlackBerry® Smartphone provided by Ufone