By Mayank Jain:
Story: Indian democracy has been shamed yet again. The parliament once again was turned into a mad house with ministers of parliament behaving like street kids and fighting against one another when Home Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde tabled the Telangana Bill around noon.
A Congress expelled MP Lagadapati Rajagopal went on to use pepper spray in the house which left many ministers, journalists and staff coughing and struggling to get medical help. Others were running around to find an exit out of the hall. He used the pepper spray after being stopped from running towards the speaker’s chair.
Another MP from TDP, Venugopal Reddy broke the speaker’s microphone while protesting against the bill and kept shouting slogans for a united Andhra Pradesh. Marshalls had to step in and provide medical help to multiple MPs. The Lok Sabha speaker ended up suspending 16 MPs for disrupting the Parliament and protesting against the bill.
Those suspended include both MPs who broke the microphone and used pepper spray. Most number of suspended MPs belong to Congress, that is 8; three were suspended from TDP and two were suspended from YSR Congress. The house was finally adjourned for the day and it will meet next on Monday.
On the other hand, Delhi assembly saw similar ruckus as well. Ministers from both BJP and Congress protested vehemently against Somnath Bharti’s actions and demanded his resignation. Some of them trooped to the well of the assembly and almost paraded there. RP Singh, MLA from BJP tore papers and threw them towards Bharti. Delhi assembly session had to be suspended too and it ended with no progress on Jan Lokpal Bill which is AAP’s main agenda for the 4 day session.
How long before people start murdering each other to express opposition?
This is a burning question now. Parliament of India has been turned into a battlefield with no rules. The adjournments and suspensions have become commonplace now and it never looks like a big story to us when we hear protest slogans from the houses but it undermines the spirit of democracy which calls for due consideration on each aspect before discarding important bills.
People in the law making bodies are supposed to be role models and representatives of a country’s political system but they are one of the biggest obstacles in achieving the objective of a smooth assembly session that is not only productive but important too.
We are in a grave danger of falling prey to collusions like these where parties conspire against each other to protest vehemently and get the assembly adjourned as soon as something controversial is tabled. This will result in lack of proper representation of issues and dilution of important laws just to achieve support which will undermine the effectiveness of having a democratic system.
Apart from this, Indian legislative system has been shamed yet again by these actions and no, quietly watching porn in a corner of the assembly is not a very angelic thing to do either. It is their job to discuss, debate and answer to the people of this country in parliament and they should stick to that instead of shouting their throats out with slogans that nobody cares to hear.
Strong punishment is the only way to keep trolls out of the sessions and a suspension of four sessions will hardly affect these hooligans. We should advocate imprisonment for serial offenders and/or grave penalties for their parties as well for the commotion they cause.
How long then, before murders start happening in the assemblies over contention on some issues and ministers start nipping off the problem at its bud.