ABSTRACT
The Indian Parliament set out on its journey of creating a sound foundation for India’s representative democracy with somber and cautious reflections of the existing realities that needed to be accounted for a country that was just being unshackled from two centuries of colonial rule, but not from remnants of its feudal past and was burdened with illiteracy and poverty. As sobriety and democratic behaviour in the two houses of the Parliament declined over the next six decades, caution on developing cynicism around the institution and it becoming a ‘federation of anarchist’ came from none other than the President of India and the Vice President, who presides over the Rajya Sabha. This necessitates putting under microscope the formulation of the chaos within the Indian Parliament as democratizing process. The chapter reviews these development from the perspective of the expected role of the Indian Parliament as a representative institution. It concludes that we need to assess India’s apex representative institution with a greater degree seriousness and depth. Democratization must not derail Indian democracy.
