Shah asks first-time MPs to work to enhance Parliament's prestige

Home Minister Amit Shah said Thursday that he agrees with the "complaint" that the legislature has "weakened" with time, allowing the judiciary and the executive to "dominate it a little", and asked lawmakers to work to enhance Parliament's prestige.

Addressing first-time Lok Sabha members at an orientation programme, Shah said the blame for it lay with the legislature and cautioned that if the balance between the three pillars of democracy is skewed, its consequences can be devastating and even imperil democracy.

"Over a period of time, this is everybody's complaint and rightly so that the legislature has weakened a bit, and the judiciary and executive have dominated it a little. For this, we sometimes blame judiciary or executive, saying that bureaucrats do not hear us or judiciary have encroached on our territory," he said.

Continuing, he added, "I as a parliamentarian agree with this but will say that blame for it does not lie with the judiciary and executive but the legislature, us all."