Year-end lists conventionally are a compilation of high achievers who made a major impact. But 2023 is better reflected not by winners, but the losers who defined the year. Three institutions come to mind, whose below-par performance has wider implications for the country

Parliament

This year, we got a new parliament building. Its architecture was designed more to segregate our MPs from the people they represent. Far more disturbing than the structure itself, however, was what went on inside the building. It suggests that those at the helm today have a different concept of what a parliamentary democracy ought to be. The founding fathers believed that while the government must eventually have its way, the Opposition must be first allowed its say. This winter session, an unprecedented 146 MPs were suspended. As Parliament turned into an echo chamber, 17 Bills were passed at lightning speed, including far-reaching amendments to Colonial-era civil and criminal codes.

The BJP measures parliamentary performance in terms of the speed with which Bills are passed without disruption and proudly measures its achievements by announcing productivity levels  such as 87%, 95% and even 135%. It ignores that an equally important function of Parliament is as a forum for discussion, debate and attempts at consensus building between the ruling party and the Opposition. That is the difference between a parliamentary democracy and an elected autocracy.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes | The collapse of parliamentary democracy

The Home Minister’s refusal to speak on the security breach in Parliament, even though the House was in session, demonstrated a refusal to accept the principle of accountability. The BJP’s complaint, that the Opposition’s indiscipline does not not augur well for parliamentary democracy, pales in comparison to the polarised and partisan manner in which Parliament is often conducted in recent times.

Opposition 

A major reason for the ruling party’s seeming invincibility is the failure of the Opposition to forge an inspiring alternative. In particular, the inability to project a charismatic face that can counter Narendra Modi’s extraordinary mass appeal. The INDIA alliance, formed in July, was buoyed by the enthusiastic response to Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and Congress victory in Telangana. By the end of the year, the optimism evaporated after the BJP’s sweeping victories in all three Hindi heartland states and the inability of the INDIA bloc to get its act together. There was no visible consensus on seat-sharing or projecting a common prime ministerial candidate either….

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/losers-list-2023-9089021/