Subhas Chandra Pattanayak
The winter session of Orissa Legislative Assembly died a premature death. Leader of the House, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reduced the rampart of democracy to a farce, generating a general feeling that the sooner it ends the better.
The Assembly succumbed to bureaucracy, as no meaningful debate on proposals/Bills before it could cause any change in what the executive had wanted. The Government, in its action, made it clear that it was not answerable to the representatives of the people.
Had he wanted, the Speaker could have ensured the execution of all the bussinesses listed for the session. But that didn’t happen.
The Assembly may suffer the same syndrome in next sessions also.
Earlier we had opined that the law relating to election of a Speaker should be changed to save the parliamentary system from becoming farcical under the nexus between the ruling party and the Speaker. The enforced end of Orissa Assembly’s winter session justifies our observation.