Throwing all caution to the wind

The Andhra Pradesh Assembly has been witnessing scenes – mostly ugly. The lone opposition YSRCP members have been making disparaging remarks against the Speaker and have been levelling all kinds of allegations against him. Their behavior on Thursday was most condemnable. Crossing all limits of decency and decorum, they called the Speaker a ‘Joker.’ It is really painful to see the kind of remarks and comments that some women MLAs like Roja have been making on the floor of the House. This attracted use of rough language by ruling party members. This session has made all those who believe in parliamentary democracy hang their heads in shame

“Oh! What a fall was there my countrymen!” said William Shakespeare about four centuries back and this saying is very much apt even today, particularly for all those who have seen giants in public life speaking in the Parliament and august house of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

I had the privilege of seeing some of the stalwarts like late Indira Gandhi, who was known as the Iron Lady of India, listen with rapt attention to the speeches of opposition leaders like Atal Behari Vajpayee, L K Advani, Hemavathi Nandan Bahuguna, Somnath Chatterjee (CPM), Indrajeet Gupta (CPI) etc, which used to be full of rhetoric but they never used to cross the limits of decency and decorum. Their speeches used to centre round facts and figures, not using abusive language or making uncharitable remarks either against the Leader of the House or the Speaker. They never stooped to the level of present-day leaders who only know to speak in derogatory language and make demeaning remarks against the Chair or the Leader of House.

During a discussion on Union Budget, the then Leader of the House Indira Gandhi once got up in Lok Sabha and admitted she cannot match the rhetoric of the Opposition Leader Atal Behari Vajpayee. That was the kind of the stature of those great leaders.Going into the well and suspension of members used to be rarest of rare things and even in such times neither of the sides used to cross their limits and it used to be headline news in newspapers.

But what a fall now? The AP Assembly has been witnessing scenes – most ugly scenes. The lone opposition YSRCP members have been making disparaging remarks against the Speaker and have been levelling all kinds of allegations against him. The behavior of the YSRCP members on Thursday was most condemnable. Crossing all limits of decency and decorum they called the Speaker ‘Joker.’ They even stormed into the well, went to the podium, banged on it, put their hands over the podium and made wild gesticulations against the Speaker, demanding that Jagan be allowed to speak. They entered into an argument as if it was a street brawl. Recently, they called the Speaker an agent of the ruling party.

The Leader of Opposition, Y S Jagan always demands that the Speaker should not interrupt him and he should be allowed to speak for at least two hours on any issue. His contention is that the Leader of Opposition has every right to speak for any length of time. He was also seen asking his members to rush to the well of the House.Once, the members are suspended they should leave the House, but on many occasions they do sit in the House in protest but should not raise slogans against the Speaker. However on Thursday they shouted slogans like “Speaker Down Down.”Even while leaving the House, the members and Jagan himself made certain gesticulations which were never done by any Leader of Opposition.

Even after suspension there was no remorse seen among the YSRCP members including Roja who at the media point commented that the Speaker was behaving like a ‘Faction Leader.’ It is really painful to see the kind of remarks and comments that some women MLAs like Roja have been making on the floor of the House. Amidst ruckus on Wednesday soon after the Speaker had cut the mikes she according to Dhulipala Narendra made objectionable gesticulations against TDP MLA Bonda Uma and said that he cannot kill me and he has no guts to ‘rape me.’

In the recent past, TDP leader Karanam Balaramakrishnamurty had once made an objectionable remark against the then Speaker at a public meeting and the state legislature in the undivided Andhra Pradesh suspended him from the Assembly for the entire session. Despite his public apology later, the suspension was not lifted. But this session had made all those who believe in parliamentary democracy hang their heads in shame. The behavior of the opposition invited use of rough language from some of the ruling party members as well.

Though the Assembly session of Telangana and AP began on the same day on the same premises, compared to AP, the proceedings of Telangana Assembly are being held in a much decent and peaceful manner. Though the TS government had shown intolerance towards the TDP members and suspended them for the entire session alleging that they had dishonoured the national anthem and there were some clashes between the Congress and ruling party, the conduct of the business is being done in a more dignified manner. One of the reasons for better performance is the presence of more than one political party in the House and display of greater maturity on the party of the opposition.

By V Ramu Sarma