Would I prefer to have my employees ask me not to pay them because they have not done the work for which they are being paid…and will it be acceptable to me as the business owner!!!

Does this apply to the Parliamentarians? Vijay Mallaya was one of the first proponent of this theory…then he had no requirement of the “salary” then it was Sachin Tendulkar who donated his MP salary to the PM’s relief fund, possibly also an acknowledgement that the Rajya Sabha had not been the best fit for him. The Mallaya’s, Tendulkar’s, actors, actresses, personalities, et all should first of all never opt for this role in the first place as they are just an adornment as in ornamental value, nothing more. Now, NDA MPs have grandly decided to give up their salaries and allowances for the last 23 days, as parliamentary work has stalled.

Over the years, scores of MPs across parties have offered to return their salaries, when sessions are unproductive. I sincerely doubt that this is a genuine expression of anguish at institutional dysfunction.

More often though, it is an attempt to polish their personal images at the expense of their peers. ‘No work, no pay’ is a method used to break workers’ strikes, and it is absurd to apply it to MPs. MP’s should realize that they are not school going children, many of them are in advanced stage in their lives where the type of example that they tend to exhibit would put a kinder garden going child to shame. To suggest it, is to misunderstand parliamentary duty, and only play to public cynicism about politics. It blurs true accountability. Legislative work is a collective responsibility, it’s not about a few individuals being better than others.

These are but just empty gestures designed to play on our sentiments and evoke our notions of virtue and our distrust of politicians. That attitude is part of the problem too. We can either think of ourselves merely as “taxpayers”, that is, as consumers berating our MPs for not doing their money’s worth of work, or we can think of ourselves as citizens who are invested in the stuff, the outcomes of their work. So should we demand a cash back and be happy about the “refund”; or should we “demand” performance. It gets reported the total output in 1% so say we get 1 out of 100 in our Class Test, would we be able to get the test papers signed by our parents?

Because we’re cut off from democratic politics, most of us in the middle class fluctuate between impossible expectations and utter distrust of politics. Voting every five years is all we do, if at all. We barely notice the substantive aspect of parliament  — how thoroughly are bills examined, are they adequately discussed, are conventions respected? When our attention does drift that way, it is reduced to theatrics and hollering, and of late even trying on the physical prowess breaking furniture also.

Actually speaking how many of our MP’s are of sound disposition? How many would actually command respect as a Parliamentarian. Collective decision-making is a process, It is two steps forward one step back, friction-ridden, worldly work that improves our lives.

Like in the old days of the Congress, one-party domination is usually bad news for parliamentary norms. Or else the Nehruvian formula of threatening to resign every time any issue was presented. This ploy was like the rich kid who owns the toy and threatens to leave the game along with the toy.

We need to implement a system of performance evaluation and take accountability. The high handed honey pot of power has been vested by the courtesy of the Citizens, which both the voters and the voted tend to forget. The mea culpa is at both ends. With elections looming ahead it is time we start demanding accountability. The ballot should seriously have an option of “none of the above”. We have this option in almost everything except on the ballot paper…why!!!