President A P J Abdul Kalam voiced concern over "dubious means" adopted to cobble up numbers to form governments and called for an introspection.
Observing that polling processes have been, of late, under "severe strain" with fatal violence, he said, "Let us be honest to ourselves."
The President was speaking in the Central Hall of Parliament on Monday after giving away 'Outstanding Parliamentarian Award' to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union minister Arjun Singh, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, L K Advani, and leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Jaswant Singh.
Kalam said when politics degraded itself to political adventurism, the nation would be on the road to ruin.
Kalam said, "Let us not risk it. It is time all of us did an introspection and grew up to the expectations that were enshrined so diligently and optimistically by the founding fathers in our Constitution so that India sustained itself and grew as a mature, healthy, vibrant democratic nation."
Accepting the award, the prime minister regretted the decline in general atmosphere in Parliament and standard of debate and called for introspection before people lose faith in the institution.
Observing that people are yearning for lifestyle change and expect parliamentarians to bring smiles on their faces through appropriate policies, laws and facilitating societal transition, the President said, "We seem to have been working with policies and procedures which are at times based on mistrust."
He said Parliament needed to mount a mission to identify and scrap complex old laws and those administrative procedures that hinder growth.
"This will give scope and hope to a large section of the people who are honest, to flower and flourish. India must move to a trust-based system and only members of this great Parliament can bring about this change," Kalam said.