Ruckus in Parliament

The whole country functions through the parliament, and parliamentarians are under a moral and professional duty to represent the mass in a way which is expected from them. Those who were present in parliament on Thursday must be truly saying that now they have seen everything. During the zero hour a JD(U) member raised the case of dalit woman being gang-raped in a rural part of Bihar, and stated the accused belonged to the RJD. This led to all hell breaking loose and the whole issue took an ugly turn when the RJD and JD(U) members started accusing each other of being criminals, and soon verbal abuses were being hurled. Soon the House was adjourned and when confronted by media persons outside, Sadhu Yadav was at his daring best. When told that he has a warrant pending against him, he openly dared anyone to catch him. A warrant was recently issued in his name in a poll related violence, but according to him since that offence occurred during the election period hence the warrant lost its relevance as soon as the election got over. Perhaps Yadav was trying to interpret law in a way which suited him best. More surprisingly the Bihar police for the past two months have been searching for the "elusive" leader Sadhu Yadav and they recently filed an application in the Patna high court asking for permission to declare Sadhu Yadav as missing. Imagine declaring a person who has been attending the parliament daily as missing. It's sad to see the already stagnated Indian politics deteriorating more and more. The person in charge of the parliament, Somnath Chatterjee walks away from the House dejected after his pleas of maintaining decorum are ignored. That is one way to tackle a situation. The other way the honourable Speaker could have acted was to dismiss the errant members and order a re-election. This would have been a deterrent which would have stopped any such future misadventures from any members. The railway minister of this country, Lalu Yadav lived to his reputation of being a "rural leader" and a true Bihari, one who doesn't fear anyone and one who will do whatever he wishes no matter what the situation, whatever the place. I guess he is right when he says that he has not been elected to the parliament to listen to abuses, but that holds true for any member. Members of the Legislative assemblies of states like UP, West Bengal and Bihar already have witnessed how it feels inside a wrestling ring, but for many members of parliament this was surely a new experience and it raised many questions and equal number of fears. One member of the opposition innocently raised the question that whether he should keep a bodyguard whenever he comes inside the parliament. To allay the fear I should say that either the Hon. member should keep a bodyguard or he should change his party or in extreme case he should contemplate of not attending the parliament until the matter calms down. Parliament is a place where the representatives of people put question, and expect an answer to their queries. This practice is in serious danger of becoming a think of past if the members are stopped from asking and voicing their opinion. Politicians should remember to keep aside the policy of "might is right" outside once they enter the parliament. Parliament is regarded as the temple of democracy as laws made here are meant to run the country. The whole country functions through the parliament, and parliamentarians are under a moral and professional duty to represent the mass in a way which is expected from them. But today's incident has surely bought down not only the prestige of the House but also of the entire country and its people.

(http://www.centralchronicle.com/20060826/2608303.htm)