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New Delhi: India's
unflinching commitment to democracy, despite odds, is the reason
behind India's growing global stature, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh said Sunday, a day that marked 60 years of the first sitting
of parliament.
The prime minister said in the Rajya Sabha, "One of the reasons
for our growing global stature in the world is our unflinching
commitment to pursuing the democratic path to achieving social and
economic salvation."
Participating in the debate, Leader of Opposition in the house
Arun Jaitley also hailed India's growth to the stature of the
largest democracy.
Both were speaking during a special sitting of parliament to mark
the occasion.
Manmohan Singh said: "India have repeatedly reposed their faith in
the democracy. In recent years, they are making their voice heard
more forcefully by voting in higher numbers in parliamentary,
state assembly and panchayat elections."
He also raised concern over "repeated disruptions" and
"unwillingness" for discussions" also stressing on restoring the
decorum that is "expected from the house of elders".
"It is not to say that we should not reflect the concern and the
regrettable unwillingness on occasions to engage in the
discussions," he said.
The prime minister also quoted the first chairman of the Rajya
Sabha S. Radhakrishnana, and said parliament is not only a
legislative but also a deliberative body.
"So far as its deliberative functions are concerned, it will be
open to us to make very valuable contributions, and it will depend
on our work whether we justify this two-chamber system, which is
now an integral part of our constitution," the prime minister said
quoting the thinker.
He emphasised that the deliberations of the upper house have
"enriched" the parliamentary system.
"I have been a proud member of this august house for the past 21
years. I have personally witnessed and participated in some very
enriching and lively debates in this august house. This house has
always been a repository of wisdom that has proved invaluable to
the functioning of our parliamentary democracy," Manmohan Singh
said.
Participating in the debate, Jaitley said, "Social justice,
elimination of poverty, healthcare, women's empowerment, these are
all greater challenges in the decades to come," Jaitley said while
speaking in the upper house in a special sitting to mark 60 years
of the Lok Sabha.
"We still continue to face the curse of terrorism and insurgency.
Let us resolve there will be no politics in these issues. We will
not only eliminate but sense will be that those who rebel outside
the system one day, we will get them within the system," he said.
He also paid tribute to those security officials who lost their
lives in the attack on parliament in December 2001.
"The last 60 years have seen collapse of many democracies. For a
poor country, it is more difficult to sustain a democracy. From
poverty, we have come to being a developing nation," Jaitley said.
"Not only did we survive, we have the distinction of becoming
world's largest democracy," the leader of opposition added.
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