Historic Bills, stirs mark Venkaiah Naidu’s tenure as Rajya Sabha chairperson

Naidu, a staunch believer in “debate, discuss and decide and not disrupt”, arguably faced the toughest time as chairperson in the history of the Rajya Sabha.

“I can operate only if you cooperate,” M Venkaiah Naidu had said in 2017 in his opening remarks as chairperson of the Rajya Sabha after being elected vice-president of India. His marvellous play on words had set the rule of the game.

“I can operate only if you cooperate,” M Venkaiah Naidu had said in 2017 in his opening remarks as chairperson of the Rajya Sabha after being elected vice-president of India. (ANI)

After five tumultuous years in the Upper House marred with disruptions, intense protests and high rate of suspension of members, it also proved to be an accurate prophecy.

Naidu, a staunch believer in “debate, discuss and decide and not disrupt”, arguably faced the toughest time as chairperson in the history of the Rajya Sabha. His predecessor, Hamid Ansari, was in favour of adjourning the House quickly to quell disruptions. But Naidu tried to run the House as much as possible, focused on improving the performances of the standing committees, and refused to compromise on the dignity of the House when political divides turned into aggressive protests and unruly dissidence.

On August 5, 2019, Naidu played a crucial role when the House approved the abrogation of Article 370 and passed the bill bifurcating Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories. The government managers had feared massive opposition protests might force repeated adjournments and derail the crucial legislative plan.

In the morning, Naidu’s wife had forced him to sit in the puja room as she prayed. Doctors checked his vitals before he left for the Rajya Sabha. Hours before the proceedings were to start, he held a quick meeting with officials to ensure no procedural lapses. The proceedings withstood the opposition protests without any adjournment and a discussion on the proposed laws vital to Jammu and Kashmir could be undertaken.

It was in the same Rajya Sabha where the three farm laws were passed without any debate in 2020. And a year later, the repeal bill, too, was passed without any debate. In the 2021 winter session, 12 opposition MPs were suspended in a controversial decision in the Rajya Sabha for their misconduct in the previous session. As the political divide between the National Democratic Alliance government and the opposition intensified, the Rajya Sabha emerged as the biggest battlefield.

But Naidu oversaw a gradual improvement in productivity. His first session as chairperson in winter 2017 had 54% productivity. The next year was the worst performing of Naidu-led Rajya Sabha with three sessions clocking 27%, 68% and 26% productivity, respectively, according to data by PRS Legislative Research, a non-partisan organisation.

But 2019 onwards, average productivity improved and 2020 proved to be the best year for Naidu in terms of productivity. The three session of Parliament saw 74%, 99% and 100% utilization of time, respectively, even as India grappled with the pandemic and all sessions were curtailed.

“In Parliament, either you should talk out or walk out. But what is happening is a frequent breakout. If this continues, democracy will be all out,” Naidu had said, as things rapidly turned sour. In Naidu’s five years, the average productivity of Rajya Sabha stood at 70%, a moderate success given the frequent disruptions and protests.

Data available with Rajya Sabha shows 58 issues disrupted the House in 13 sessions and debate the special category status for AP triggered the most disruptions; 78% of Rajya Sabha members signed the daily attendance register and the time spent on oversight function of the House declined.

“The productivity of the first five sessions has been in the range of only 6.8% to 58.8%, while it has substantially improved in six of the next eight sessions clocking productivity in the range of 76% to 105% with five sessions working for about 100% of the scheduled time,” a House report said.

Other achievements of Naidu include regular monitoring of the functioning of the parliamentary committees, resulting in improved performance, manifold increase in public outreach through the media on the functioning of the House, hassle free and safe conduct of the sessions of the House since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, bringing to an end colonial practices and increased use of Indian languages and latest technology in the functioning of the House.

Till budget session 2022, Naidu presided over 13 full sessions and 261 sittings as against the scheduled 289 sittings were held during this period amounting to 913 hours 11 minutes of work. 177 Bills were passed or returned by the Rajya Sabha during these sessions and the best average legislative output was in 2019, when 52 Bills were passed, the highest in 36 years.

Naidu’s tenure saw a total of 936 of 3,525 starred questions answered orally, 1,526 zero hour submissions and 953 special mentions and 57% of the sittings of Rajya Sabha were disrupted, while 43% were free of such disruptions.

As he demits the second-highest constitutional office on August 10, Naidu will shift to 1 Tyagraj Marg. But it’s unlikely to be a quiet life of a retired vice-president. He will remain active and do what he loves the most: meeting people.