Disruption in RS will cost the country heavily: Jaitley

Concerned over the phenomenon of continuous disruption in Rajya Sabha over an elected government's policies, Union Minister and Leader of the House Arun Jaitley today said if the Upper House, which is not elected on a manifesto, repeatedly overrules the directly elected Lok Sabha, it will hurt the will of the people.
Noting that obstructionism in the Upper House in which the opposition enjoys majority would cost the country heavily, the Finance Minister said such an approach in Parliament cost the country in terms of economy, in terms of popular faith in democracy and people can become disgusted to the kind of quality of politics.

He was speaking at the birth centenary celebrations of legendary leader of Congress in Kerala, P T Chacko, who was a member of the Constituent Assembly which drafted the Constitution of the country.
"If the Upper House is repeatedly disrupted, or the Upper House repeatedly overrules the directly elected House, how does then the will of people prevail?," Jaitley asked, joining the issue raised by retired Supreme Court Judge K T Thomas in his presidential address.
In his speech, Thomas expressed concerns over the way the Upper House of Parliament is functioning and sought a remedy to end this phenomenon.

"...Eventually parliament has to debate. The essence of democracy is only a discussion," Jaitley said.

He also referred to a system evolved in British Parliament--The Salisbury-Addison Convention--in which the Upper House (House of Lords) has to yield to the wisdom of the Lower House (House of Commons) on important government bills.
According to Jaitley, the system was evolved when Clement Attlee became the British Prime Minister after the second World War.
"...Indian democracy has now to rise to a level of maturity where it has to find solution on how to deal with these emerging challenges...I think in an approach to tackle this, we have to go back and learn from the wisdom of those members of the Constituent Assembly who rose to the occasion and gave us a document that we all cherish," he said.