Parliament tussle puts every Indian to shame
Sub: Parl sessions: A huge drain on public money: Bold Talk – V Ramu Sarma (Dec. 21, 2024). The sad and unfor-tunate drama is being enacted by the Congress and its associate political group continuously during every ses-sion of the Parliament by disrupting the proceedings of the House, while calling sessions 100% productive, is dis-gusting. The mentality by the Opposition to have become more vociferous and needlessly violent is a sad testimony to the values that they are supposed to uphold and prac-tice to be role models for the people of the country is highly questionable. The frustration is clearly visible and the helplessness despite all time test tactics played out are proving ineffective in bringing the ruling government to its knees is definitely telling.
–S Lakshmi, Hyderabad
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It's unfortunate that the clash over perceived insult to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar between members of parliament belonging to both rival groups on the very premises of parliament has taken ugly turn leaving two members physically hurt and the leaders being dragged to registra-tion of police case. The political parties, in ruling and in opposition, can think of ways how best they could serve Ambedkar's ideology, rather than pointing fingers to oth-ers about not showing respect to him.
–Dr DVG Sankara Rao,
ex MP, Vizianagaram
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BJP allegations of violence during a scuffle outside Par-liament seem to be a false and baseless allegations. It shows the government’s desperation as it is receiving backlash and massive outrage from public against Amit Shah’s remarks on Baba Saheb Ambedkar. The govern-ment failed to provide CCTV footage where Rahul Gandhi was alleged to have pushed the BJP MPs. Since there is no evidence, it seems it is a master plan to divert the attention of public and a drama is being enacted to divert the main issue of Ambedkar being insulted by Amit Shah. Definitely it is a conspiracy to protect Amit Shah. Con-gress alleges that BJP MPS carried sticks and not allowed Rahul Gandhi into Parliament and pushed Mallikarjun Kharge. Rahul Gandhi pushing MPs is totally baseless and he will not push anyone because simply it is not his nature to be rude or nasty. Public knows very well about it. Still, an inquiry should be conducted into this matter.
–Zeeshan, Kazipet
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It is unfortunate that the legally and constitutionally elected political leaders are not able to have friendly dis-cussions on resolving the people-related issues. For the last two weeks, the valuable time of the Parliament is spent in allegations, stalling and boycotts. Now they are forced to reach out of Parliament to express their differ-ences. It is the responsibility of the Speaker of Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister and the Leader of Lok Sabha who need to have solution based discussions in the parlia-ment and bring the situation back to normalcy as the is-sue is suddenly spread across the globe.
- G Murali Mohan Rao, Secunderabad
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The scuffle that broke out at the Makar Dwar, Parlia-ment's main entrance, between the MPs from the NDA and INDIA bloc and the resultant first information report (FIR) filed against Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, is unfortunate. The MPs who are ex-pected to be involved in constructive debates in Parlia-ment, are resorting to physical confrontation. Parliament has witnessed many political stalwarts who set an exam-ple for others to follow. The people's representatives must maintain dignity while performing their duties.
– S Sankaranarayanan, Chennai
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The kind of message these leaders are sending down the line doesn't augur well for our democracy. Inside par-liament they are not sitting quiet for a fruitful discussion, wasting the time of the session, squandering people's money and outside they are physically fighting with each other. Perhaps, Rahul Gandhi & Co should be counseled on a certain matters concerning the conduct of the par-liament sessions. I have been hearing wild allegations levelled by the ruling party against the opposition and vice-versa since my childhood. But barring Laloo Prasad Yadav, not a single politician worth his stature or name got punished all these decades. This mutual bashing is only for the galleries.
– Govardhana Myneedu, Vijayawada
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Parliament and legislative debate is supposed to be a civilised way of settling differences and debate the genu-ine problems of people and if it descends to the level of street brawls as it happened on the penultimate day of parliament session, the very purpose of electing MPs to represent our grievances is defeated, there is no point in spending huge amounts of tax payers money for con-ducting unproductive debates and used it for washing their dirty linens. The violent behavior of LOP Rahul is ex-posed, he used his muscles and not brains in the con-cluded session. He never learnt any lessons from his past experiences.
– Rama Krishna M, Kakinada
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One minute of Parliament session costs Rs 2.5 lakh to the exchequer. The despicable manner of functioning of Indi-an democracy therefore, has every Indian hung his or her head in shame. The newfound crocodile tears of the op-position for Ambedkar is a vote-garnering tactic targeting OBCs. The onus is on ‘elected representatives’ from the opposition and treasury benches to restore respectability to Indian democracy by focusing on matters that impact the welfare of people who voted for them.
–Dr George Jacob, Kochi
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Rahul has failed in all his efforts to revive the Congress party. He also failed to lead the INDIA group in a right way. Now Mamata has offered to lead the group. He is also more frustrated on losing the elections continuously. His Bharath Jodo yatra paid him some 100 seats for the group but could not make any political advantage. He hits the headlines for wrong reasons. If Rahul and the grand old party do not refrain and correct its mistakes, its extinction is not far off.
– R Ragothaman, Ooty
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Winter session of Parliament witnessed fisticuffs by both ruling and opposition MPs while the anniversary of 75 years of Constitution is being celebrated. It dimmed the democratic brilliance of our country. References made by Union Home Minister regarding Amdedkar being archi-tect of our Constitution was cleverly used as an effective weapon by Congress to attack BJPled government. Here, it can be remembered that in his last speech, Ambedkar asserted that while constitutional methods were availa-ble there was no justification for resorting ant-constitutional methods.
–Jaya Thampi, Thiruvananthapuram
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The Parliamentarians should understand that they need to be more productive, constructive and prolific during the start of the session of the houses. It should be their moral and fundamental duty to abide by the Constitution and uphold the dignity of the Parliament and use it for constructive discussions on each and every issue rather politicizing them on personal and party grounds. There is an urgent need for reclamation of the Parliamentarians’ decency and constitutional ethos to be followed in order to have an efficacious outcome that benefit the greater cause of netizens.
Dimple Wadhawan, Kanpur Naga
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It was the darkest day in the history of our democracy. Over a decade no purposeful debates were held on seri-ous problems facing the nation were held. Price rise, employment to our youth, reducing GST, farmers’ issues, Health care reforms, streamlining of IT and many more. But the Winter Session, which concluded on Friday, left much to be desired in terms of productivity, with the Lok Sabha’s productivity plummeting to just 40.03%. It is ra-ther a very poor performance. Huge taxpayers’ money is being spent on the conduct of the business of parlia-ment. The lethargic attitude of our elected representa-tives in wasting the business hours is highly unjust and unfair. It needs to be condemned.
– N R Ramachandran, Chennai
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This time around the opposition is clinging to Ambedkar issue – faultfinding the Home Minister Amit Shah for what he said in condemnation of the ill-treatment meted out to Bhimrao Ambedkar by the Congress when it was in power; and the Prime Minister cited various incidents during which the tall leader and the chairman of the drafting committee of the Constitution was insulted and back-stabbed. It did not go down well with the Congress. The new drama by the INDI group seeking an apology and resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah is yet an-other twist in the cunning plan to deviate from the main issues that are slated to be discussed in the House.
– K V Raghuram, Wayanad
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If the recent incident of violence in Lok Sabha that in-volved not only scuffles but a bit of bloodletting as well is any indication, it would be safe to conclude that our Rs 940 crore Parliament building is the costliest "akha-ra"(arena) in India. Our Constitution makers must be turning in their graves at Thursday's development that saw our MPs exchanging blows, leading to the hospitali-sation of a BJP MP. We keep tom-tomming about India being the largest democracy of the world. Well, even our railways are one of the largest networks in the world. But the quality aspect of both has always been under a cloud. If our elected reps start behaving like "goondas" who use force to settle scores, the very purpose of holding an election at a humongous cost to the nation gets defeated.
– Avinash Godboley, Dewas, MP
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The article highlights the significant financial burden that parliamentary sessions impose on taxpayers. As a citizen, I am alarmed by the wasteful expenditure and lack of productivity in our parliamentary sessions. The article's assertion that a significant amount of public money is being squandered on unnecessary sessions resonates with me. I urge the government to take immediate action to address this issue. Implementing measures to increase productivity and reduce unnecessary expenditures would be a step in the right direction.
-Raju Kolluru, Kakinada
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What makes the incident outside parliament even more tragic is the irony of Rahul's rhetoric after he was instru-mental for the high-handed behaviour taking an ugly turn. The deeper question remains as to what prompted Rahul to take law into his hands by fiercely injuring the two ruling party MPs in full public view?
By all accounts, it looks like a deliberate snub aimed to show the gov-ernment in poor light after the assurances by the opposi-tion to see that the winter session is productive. Appar-ently, when the entire winter session was a wash out, it is shocking that senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh shamelessly came out to say that the legislative business was successful to an extent.
–K R Srinivasan, Secunderabad