Why do we need a Parliament?

Lawmaking is only one job among many that a legislature performs. The legislature is really the centre of a country's entire democratic political process — it is where walkouts happen, where protests are staged, where demonstrations, unanimous resolutions, disagreement, and cooperation all play out in public view. All of this activity, messy as it looks, serves a serious purpose: no genuine democracy is possible without a legislature that is representative, efficient, and effective. A legislature is also how ordinary people get to hold their representatives accountable — this is the very foundation on which representative democracy rests.

It is true that in most democracies today, including India, the executive (the Cabinet) has become the more visible driver of governance — it sets the policy agenda, initiates most legislation, and carries the day-to-day business of running the country. This has led some observers to argue that the legislature has "declined" in importance. But this misses something important: even the strongest, most disciplined Cabinet still needs a majority in the legislature to survive, and it has to answer to the legislature's satisfaction whenever it is questioned. That dependence is exactly where the democratic potential of Parliament lies. Because of how it is composed — drawing members from every region, community, and party — Parliament is the most representative of all organs of government, and it is recognised as one of the most open and democratic forums for debate anywhere in the system. Above everything else, it is Parliament that holds the power to choose a government and to dismiss it. …