Precedence, privilege

If “privileges” — the very term and its varied symbols — sit uncomfortably with, in fact go particularly contrary to, the fundamentals of a parliamentary democracy, then the parliamentary committee on privileges is yet to come to grips with it. In a report tabled in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the panel put forward a litany of suggestions that seek to further the status of parliamentarians in the hierarchy. It wants MPs to climb four rungs up on the Warrant of Precedence so that their position will not come below various ministers in states and Union territories, but instead will be on par with chief justices of high courts. In fact, the committee even wants the red beacon, that symbol of exalted separateness, back atop the cars of the people’s representatives.

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