Law makers must ensure sanctity of Parliament

Parliament is considered to be temple of democracy. It is the responsibility of all the law makers to ensure that its sanctity is not spoiled. But of late things have changed. There is no seriousness the focus is not on discussions or debates and finding solutions to the problems. Shouts, sloganeering, sitting in the well trying to obstruct the proceedings, efforts of one upmanship, cheap jibes, a body language that does not suit the August house.

When the opposition bloc got a good majority during this Lok Sabha elections, hopes were high that they will be able to corner the government on several issues, counter their narrative with facts and figures and force the government to take corrective measures whenever and wherever necessary. It was felt that the NDA government this time will not be able to have its way so easily.

But the opposition bloc it seems will never change. The way it is behaving in the Parliament is highly disappointing. Shouts, demonstrations should be on the streets not inside the Parliament. They have no right to waste public money in stalling the proceedings even when certain statutory functions like motion of thanks to presidents address was to be passed.

The opposition needs to show highest respect to the Lok Sabha and give exemplary performance of maintaining decency and decorum, expose the government and make best use of the grand opportunity they got after a decade.

That is how the Lok Sabha used to be all these years when stalwarts used to be there. Through debates and discussions, they used to put the government on mat. There were occasions when the government was caught on wrong foot like in case of Bofors as the opposition had exposed the government with solid facts and figures which led to dissolution of Lok Sabha.

The leader of the opposition is considered to be a shadow Prime Minister. The LOP should behave in the most dignified manner and should be well prepared on the subject he or she wants to speak and should earn the respect of being heard with rapt attention by all members including the PM.

The LOP should have a decent body language, should weigh every word he or she speaks. But unfortunately, the performance of the new leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi who seems to be a reluctant LoP is rather disappointing.

He needs to reinvent himself, change his body language and when he gets up to speak, he should command respect from all sections of the house. That would become possible only when he does lot of home work and comes to the Parliament armed with impeccable data and other information instead of coming loaded with cheap jibes at PM or anyone else.

Lessons in personality development say that when you speak look straight into the eyes of the person whom you are addressing. In parliament a member should address the chair and convey his thoughts to the house through the Speaker, pose questions which would make the Government search for answers.

But Rahul’s body language appears to be offensive and reminds one of the body language the former AP Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in the AP Assembly till recently.

The new LoP should dig into the archives of the Lok Sabha, see some videos of how dignified but fiery when necessary his grandmother Indira Gandhi used to be. She had the greatest quality of listening to the other side as leader of the house.

Rahul Gandhi should watch how Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, Indrajit Gupta, Jaipal Reddy, M Venkaiah Naidu, L K Advani, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Sushma Swaraj used to speak.

They used to be sharp and highly critical of the government but never did they indulge in loose talk nor did they make cheap jibes. The minute the LoP used to get up, the entire house including the PM used to listen to every word he or she uttered very carefully. There were very few occasions when the opposition used to stall the house.

If they differed with the government, they used to strongly protest and walk out. But these days, the behavior of opposition is disturbing. Language is demeaning. Opposition after a decade got a great opportunity to put the NDA government in dock based on facts, figures, discussions and debates not by shouting and behaving the way they are doing. They should show greater maturity, decency and decorum or else they will lose the faith of the people who gave such a good mandate to the bloc INDIA.