Aug 13, 2026 17:15 pm IST

Opinion | Indian Parliament And The Perils Of Empty 'Swagger'

Indian MPs - on all sides - have found a dangerous new way to game the Parliament. And so far, they all are winning

Rahul Shrivastava Rahul Shrivastava Consulting Editor

Rahul Shrivastava Consulting Editor

The Indian Parliament has settled into a disturbing rhythm. The founding fathers of the Constitution had crafted it for debates that are focused on the welfare of the electors, and legislation that is filtered through the wisdom of each and every elected MP.

Thursday sharp at 11 am, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla walked up to his chair. The now-familiar crescendo, of Opposition MPs unleashing their lung power to disrupt the last six-seven hours of the proceedings, rose. Birla didn't ask them to sit. He didn't tell them to calm down. He asked everyone to stand up for the National Song. For a few minutes, the serenity of Vande Mataram echoed inside the House. And then the Speaker adjourned the House sine die, bringing the curtain down on the Monsoon Session of Parliament about seven hours before the scheduled end.

The 250-odd sq. feet, transparent-vinyl-walled porta-cabin 'media hut' in Parliament is placed at exactly the same radial distance from the old Parliament building's Gate No. 1 (past entry point for MPs) and the Makar Dwar, the entry point in the new building. It provides a ringside view of how things have transitioned and degenerated over time. For the 29th day, or the 19th sitting of the Houses, watching the MPs troop out without doing much work reminded me of what Senator Gracchus said in Director Ridley Scott's epic adventure drama, Gladiator. Gracchus had provided a cynical view of Roman politics by telling someone that the "beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate; it's the sand of the Colosseum".

Each day of the now virtually-bombed and annihilated-by-disruptions Monsoon Session this year, MPs from both sides of the political fence emerged from the Makar Dwar like gladiators from the Colosseum, claiming victory. But it takes a bit of sitting back and thinking to deduce that all parties and groupings across the various divides have been managing to have their way, and that there is only one loser: the voter. Reconfirming that distraction through spectacle is more effective than political accountability and performance.

The Congressmen's Newfound Swagger

Ask any journalist covering the monsoon session of Parliament what the key takeaway of the session is, and they will tell you that in the second half of the month-long session, the stand-out element has been the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, walking with the swagger of a winner inside or outside Parliament. This swagger has rubbed off on most Congressmen. They admit that this was in stark contrast to the session's earlier half, as not them, but the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) had stolen the headlines. The satirical platform achieved what had been mission impossible for the entire Opposition for 12 long years of the NDA rule. The Gen Z anger made the BJP leadership sack a minister right in the middle of a Parliament session. The Congress had initially stayed away from the protests. And thus, couldn't claim victory for Dharmendra Pradhan's ouster.

Rahul Gandhi entered the arena late with a foiled sit-in outside the Prime Minister's residence. Then he shifted the goalpost. For the Congressmen, that shift brought a note of triumph - and the swagger.

The CJP's trophy was Pradhan's resignation. But Rahul Gandhi and the Congress needed a more visible hit. So he picked the pellet-hit protesters, the crackdown on the protesters, Delhi Police's fumbles, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah's silence on these to build a "missing" narrative. He wanted Shah to tell the House who ordered the crackdown. The government dug its heels in. Its gladiators laid down the rules for a statement by Shah. No dialogue till there is disruption.

The remnants of the depleted INDIA bloc, after the DMK's exit and the TMC's........

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