Disturbing Trend In Indian Parliament Budget Session – OpEd
The budget session of Indian parliament will conclude in the next few days that would give great relief to most sections of people of India, who hopefully look forward to a vibrant and progressive India in the coming years.
Most of the budget session has been marked by noise and shouting by large number of members of parliament together, particularly belonging to the opposition parties, with the sole aim of preventing the speech of other members being heard. Of course, ruling party members too shouted back to some extent, largely provoked by the obstruction tactics of the opposition parties, known as INDI group. Certainly, this budget session would go down in the history of Indian parliament in recent years as the most chaotic and hate filled session so far.
The worst thing happened when the opposition party members continuously shouted at the Prime Minister, when he was speaking for more than two hours, to prevent him from being heard and perhaps, with the malicious intention of humiliating the Prime Minister. Such thing has never happened before in Indian parliament to this extent, when a Prime Minister was speaking.
In the process, the image of members of Indian parliament as responsible representatives of the people have gone for a toss. What particularly causes concern is that many speeches by members of parliament were rendered in abusive and hateful language, with gesticulations and pointing fingers, that can potentially create a climate of discard amongst people in the country.
Instead of discussing economic, political and social issues in a constructive way with critical analysis and explanations , deliberate attempts have been made to create a scenario, as if the opposition parties and ruling parties are at war with each other. Several divisive issues such as caste differences were raised and that were marked by venom, which is extremely disturbing.
As the proceedings of the parliamentary sessions are live telecast all over India and extensively commented and discussed in the visual, print and social media, such kind of lowly rated speeches and behaviour would only contribute to division amongst people and create social tensions. Unfortunately, many members of parliament in India seem to lack the wisdom to understand this and do not seem to think that they have to maintain the dignity and decorum of this august house by behaving in a responsible and dignified manner. ‘
It is a pathetic scene to see the Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman pleading with the members not to shout and disrupt the speech by other members. Most members seem to ignore the fervent appeal and give an impression to the people that they have little regard for the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, which has belittled the fair image of Indian parliament. The way that the members carry and show placards and photographs with the least regard for the traditions and rules of parliament are shocking, to say the least.
The irresponsible behavior of political leaders in parliament and outside, can cause havoc in the country. In this context, one is reminded about the recent happenings in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The recent developments in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, when mass uprising took place were essentially due to some vested interest and motivated groups spreading hate feelings and inciting the people to protest for one cause or the other. In the light of such hate feelings being spread , people have tended to take up arms and come on the street to fight against the government. Such “leaders” do not have the interests of the country in view but only some mischievous intentions and targets to create chaos and anarchy and in the process, come to power.
What happened in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh should not have and need not have happened. There are enough forums for people to express their views that would force the governments to respond suitably. Both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are democratic countries, where elections take place periodically and the government can be replaced from time to time depending on the people’s mandate.
Due to such mass uprisings, both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have lost heavily not only in economic terms but also in social cohesiveness between the people and have lost the reputation in the global eye.
Members of parliament in India who have shown unruly behavior and adopted obstruction tactics in the budget session have done great disservice to the country by their undesirable behavior, delivering speeches full of hate and venom and not obeying the rules and regulations. In effect, they are disturbing the peace and harmony in the country, which is a dangerous trend.
nThe recent uprisings in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh caused due to hate speeches and inciting people are a grim warning signal to all the countries, that should remind the rulers and other political leaders that they should not play with the hate fire in their quest for attaining power at any cost.
