69 years of Rajya Sabha: Debate rages over its role

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 3

Sixty-nine years since the Rajya Sabha was constituted on April 3, 1952, debate rages on the role of Upper House.

This discussion became more pronounced after late Arun Jaitley, then leader of the House, asked in 2015 if it was proper for the wisdom of a directly elected house to be repeatedly questioned by the indirectly elected house.

The remarks were rooted in opposition moves to block legislations in Rajya Sabha where it commanded a greater majority than the Government.

A look at the RS history shows that until 1969, its composition was similar to Lok Sabha’s with the Congress enjoying the majority in both Houses. This changed after the 1969 Congress split and the 1971 General Election win of former PM Indira Gandhi led faction which was reduced to 90 MPs in a 245 member RS.

Late President Pranab Mukherjee, a five-time RS member himself, dwelt on this predicament of governments in his memoirs where, commenting on the 1971 era, he said, “The Upper House started asserting itself against the government and rejected many important laws and constitutional amendments despite the fact that these were supported in the Lok Sabha. The constitution amendment Bill of 1970 which sought to abolish privy purses failed to get two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha by a fraction of votes.” Going by the Constituent Assembly debates, Mukherjee said it was clear that the makers of the Constitution did not anticipate that the Upper House would become an impediment to lawmaking.