A heartwarming report from the house of the world's greatest
democracy:
'Who's speaking?
This is Parliament of India'
IANS[ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 08, 2004 06:17:31 PM ]
NEW DELHI: Disgust and anger were writ large on their faces as they trooped out of the visitors' gallery of the Lok Sabha after witnessing yet another ugly fracas in the lower house of Parliament Wednesday when MPs stalled proceedings.
"I did not travel all the way to see this," said R P Yadav, who had come with a dozen people from his village, Sant Bansti Nagar, in Uttar Pradesh.
"Nothing could be heard. They were shouting all the time. People in our village market behave better," Yadav, a trader, said, referring to the unruly scenes in the house.
The bout of lung clearing by members of the opposition and treasury benches was triggered by a reference by the opposition to the running feud between two senior ministers -- Lalu Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan.
All the pleas and threats by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee as he sought to restore some semblance of order went in vain.
The angry gesticulations and diatribes changed to slogan shouting when a member referred to the drought-like situation in many parts of Rajasthan and the state government's failure to tackle the situation.
"This is becoming too much. It is a matter of great sorrow... unfortunate that we do not show the minimum patience to see that this house carry on with its work," the avuncular Chatterjee said, raising his voice above the all-round din.
"Those who raise slogans will have to face consequences," he warned as the shouting continued.
"This is the parliament of India. This can't go on," Chatterjee announced in exasperation to no avail.
"The whole country is watching us, including boys and girls," he said during a lull that hardly lasted a few moments.
"Who is speaking?" Chatterjee demanded as another round of storm brewed. "If you have courage, stand up," he challenged.
"I am requesting you with folded hands (to maintain order). The entire country is seeing how we are behaving," the speaker added.
"Unruly elements," he muttered.
"It was shameful," said a 30ish woman in a grey salwar-kameez, agreeing wholeheartedly with the speaker as she came out of the visitors' gallery.
"They should behave in a more civilized way," she said.
Her name? "I can't give you my name because my father is a member," she said as she breezed down the staircase but promised to have a serious discussion with him.
Said Sanjiv Babbar from Delhi: "This is not what we expect from our MPs. They should learn to conduct debates in a civilized manner."
Mitiliesh Kumar, a college teacher from Jharkhand, could not agree more. "It is a useless waste of time. You have to see to believe how indisciplined they are.
"There are many ways to raise an issue. They behave like street urchins," he said in disgust.
According to a reliable estimate, every lost hour of business in parliament costs the nation over Rs 800,000.
On Wednesday, the people's representatives did not appear to be unduly worried about that.
IANS[ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 08, 2004 06:17:31 PM ]
NEW DELHI: Disgust and anger were writ large on their faces as they trooped out of the visitors' gallery of the Lok Sabha after witnessing yet another ugly fracas in the lower house of Parliament Wednesday when MPs stalled proceedings.
"I did not travel all the way to see this," said R P Yadav, who had come with a dozen people from his village, Sant Bansti Nagar, in Uttar Pradesh.
"Nothing could be heard. They were shouting all the time. People in our village market behave better," Yadav, a trader, said, referring to the unruly scenes in the house.
The bout of lung clearing by members of the opposition and treasury benches was triggered by a reference by the opposition to the running feud between two senior ministers -- Lalu Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan.
All the pleas and threats by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee as he sought to restore some semblance of order went in vain.
The angry gesticulations and diatribes changed to slogan shouting when a member referred to the drought-like situation in many parts of Rajasthan and the state government's failure to tackle the situation.
"This is becoming too much. It is a matter of great sorrow... unfortunate that we do not show the minimum patience to see that this house carry on with its work," the avuncular Chatterjee said, raising his voice above the all-round din.
"Those who raise slogans will have to face consequences," he warned as the shouting continued.
"This is the parliament of India. This can't go on," Chatterjee announced in exasperation to no avail.
"The whole country is watching us, including boys and girls," he said during a lull that hardly lasted a few moments.
"Who is speaking?" Chatterjee demanded as another round of storm brewed. "If you have courage, stand up," he challenged.
"I am requesting you with folded hands (to maintain order). The entire country is seeing how we are behaving," the speaker added.
"Unruly elements," he muttered.
"It was shameful," said a 30ish woman in a grey salwar-kameez, agreeing wholeheartedly with the speaker as she came out of the visitors' gallery.
"They should behave in a more civilized way," she said.
Her name? "I can't give you my name because my father is a member," she said as she breezed down the staircase but promised to have a serious discussion with him.
Said Sanjiv Babbar from Delhi: "This is not what we expect from our MPs. They should learn to conduct debates in a civilized manner."
Mitiliesh Kumar, a college teacher from Jharkhand, could not agree more. "It is a useless waste of time. You have to see to believe how indisciplined they are.
"There are many ways to raise an issue. They behave like street urchins," he said in disgust.
According to a reliable estimate, every lost hour of business in parliament costs the nation over Rs 800,000.
On Wednesday, the people's representatives did not appear to be unduly worried about that.
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