The day India's MPs created history
Sunday August 28, 2011 04:57:39 PM,
Sarwar Kashani,
IANS
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New
Delhi:
It was a rare show of unanimity and purposefulness, going beyond
party lines. At the special parliament debate on Saturday, MPs
transcended their usual acrimonious and disorderly behaviour to
demonstrate that when it matters, India's lawmakers can deliver.
They also managed to assert the supremacy of parliament in framing
legislations for the nation.
The Lokpal discussion -- stretching over nine hours in the Lok
Sabha and eight hours in the Rajya Sabha -- saw a sober tone
echoing in both the houses though MPs did criticise each others'
viewpoints.
But there were no disruptions due to acrimony - a rare sight in
the otherwise usually divided houses. There were no angry
reactions either and almost every criticism was responded to with
a smile.
Bharatiya Jananta Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj, who began her
speech pleading for decorum "as the nation was watching", threw
barbs at the Congress for not listening to Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh on major issues. "Prime minister otherwise also speaks less,
but when he speaks you should listen to him," she chided.
Manmohan Singh, who constantly maintained eye contact with Sushma
Swaraj through her speech, responded -- with a smile.
And when the BJP was the target of the Congress, Sushma Swaraj and
her senior colleague L.K. Advani grinned.
Not only this, thumping of desks for any appreciated viewpoint was
not restricted to party lines only.
That is why when Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad and
Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief Sharad Yadav were asserting
parliamentary supremacy in an elected democracy, the Lok Sabha
echoed with resonant thumping of the desks.
Almost every MP was seen doing so in agreement.
Sharad Yadav also took a dig at the media, particularly TV,
accusing it of fanning the Hazare movement.
"This dabba (TV sets) has robbed us of our sleep," he said, as the
house broke into peals of laughter.
The two Bihar political leaders were greeted as star speakers
later as they seemed to have voiced the sentiments of a majority
MPs. Many of their colleagues congratulated them.
The tone was set by Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee as he
began the debate. "There has to be a distinction between mobocracy
and democracy. To protect the constitution we must abide by it, it
is upon us to ensure that there is no conflict between the desire
of the people, who are our masters, and what we do."
In the Rajya Sabha, Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley also
underlined parliamentary supremacy in making laws.
However, Jaitley admitted that Hazare's campaign had brought out
relevant demands and elected representatives could not be
lethargic not to pass the anti-graft Lokpal bill for 42 years
since it was first proposed.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury
candidly admitted that the wide support for Hazare's movement was
"a manifestation of the disgust of scam after scams coming up".
The discussion centred around a contentious matter that had nearly
threatened India's parliamentary structure and perhaps the MPs had
sensed it and even the usual hecklers were listening quietly.
And when parliament accepted "in principle" a resolution admitting
the three conditions set by Hazare -- a citizens' charter, an
appropriate mechanism to bring the lower bureaucracy under the
purview of the proposed Lokpal, and the establishment of
Lokayuktas in states -- opposition leaders reached out to
Mukherjee to congratulate him.
(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at s.kashani@ians.in)
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