Let me start with the premise that I have watched the movie and it could not satisfy me; but that’s just me. I expect a lot more from a movie than a narrative about a foreign locale. Anyway, I am not here to provide feedback to excel entertainment on their latest production, I am here to impress upon our parliamentarians to make use of TODAY rather than keep procrastination. I only want to state that now, more than ever, when people are questioning the whole point of having Parliament as a forum if the entire political class uses it for mere theatrics than substance filled debates, we need the politicians to not disappoint us. In the past, we've had the likes of Sharad Yadav (MP, Janata Dal (U), Bihar) who infamously said on the floor of the house “women’s reservation bill will be passed over my dead body”; we've had a Sushma Swaraj (Leader of opposition) who feels everything that goes right in this country is God’s grace and everything that goes wrong is the Prime Minister’s fault. It’s been a long time that we have seen gripping debates in the Parliament solely based on facts and numbers. We want to see debates not disruptions and they better get this point. At all costs the Parliament should be allowed to run. People who want their voices to be heard, will stay back and debate and as for the rest, they have the television studios for theatrics. So guys, please seize the moment, stand up and be counted.
The Parliament has been convened by the President for the monsoon session and in a run up to this we have had several un-precedented events. First, we have the fallout of many financial irregularities that has been gripping the imagination of our nation. So far, we have seen peace meal explanations given by the government on various media platforms. These media platforms are basically used for grandstanding and no one comes to these studios with intent to debate the topics. The sad part of the story is, no one wants to let us know the real truth behind these acts of omission and commission and every political party is trying to build a smokescreen and making a virtue of a necessity. My point to the politicians is simple: As the citizen of this country,” WE MUST KNOW THE TRUTH”. We must understand where our representatives stand on issues that matter to us. The truth of the matter is no one wants to let us know the truth. Each political party sends a green horn to the news studio and the dumb-ass just stands there defending his party line. Every charge is not answered on the merits, but on politics. Someone needs to tell these “party spokespersons” that pointing to your opponent’s mistakes don’t automatically defend your stand. Every criminal act has motive and logic behind the act, and all we want to know is how you face the charge and what the intention was. We understand that even the Prime Minister can make mistakes (policy failure, wrong appointments etc.) and as humans we err before we get it right. All we ask of you is to explain your intent and reasoning behind your decisions and leave to us to judge if it was an honest mistake or mala-fide intent. We don’t want to know how your political party is less corrupt than that of your opponent. So my point is, if you harp on the fact –“Parliament is Supreme”, show it on the floor with issue based debates. Throw your punches on the Prime Minister, make it very very personal battle, make it no holds barred but for God’s sake don’t mess around with your electorate. Our only problem is you guys don’t debate. In television studios you say “Parliament is the forum for debates” and when the Parliament is in session, there is abysmal attendance and mostly disruptions. The “common man” is frustrated that either ways his representatives are not responding to his queries. Its time we raise the level of political discourse in this country; do it now voluntarily, else it will forced upon you by the likes of Anna Hazare.
We have seen many a protests and “fasts” and other unnatural and banal actions by “civil society” groups. We have Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar and Bengal faced with farmer protests every other day over land acquisition. The problem is well known and ancient land-acquisition law of 1894 that is being used in 2011. Even the Supreme Court has struck down several shady land deals by the Government of UP recently stating we need a better law. So we have an immediate problem to address. Anna Hazare and his group of “distinguished morons” are going around holding referendum in Kapil Sibal’s constituency. Annaji, why are you making it personal? Mr. Sibal is doing his job as a Minister and you are doing yours. If you have a right to opinion, so does he. Now it is for the collective wisdom of the Parliament to debate and pass the Lokpal Bill. You have a right to hold “referendum” as you call it, but Parliament also has a right to ignore its outcome. Government is your friend and not your enemy; you should use your pull with the people to impress upon the Government not to antagonise it by going tom-tom about the PM being corrupt. We know it’s the absurdity of Mr. Kejriwal and the Bhushans that you are mouthing, but in the days to come, you will stand to regret the fact that you were being used by them. We have several financial bills like the Goods and Service Tax regime, Direct tax code, Foreign Direct Investment in Retail, NREGA amendment bill which are necessary for kick starting second level reforms in various sectors. A new telecom policy needs to be worked on, foreign university bill for HRD, Communal violence bill are also waiting to be tabled in the house. So in layman terms, there is enough work to last the 40 days that Parliament will function and we want the Parliamentarians to make use of every bit of it. Of course, we will have a bit of nudge and push to the Government by the opposition and there will be time for passionate speeches and the Prime Minister’s response; but all of this will be lost if we don’t allow the Parliament to function.
In the past, we have made a mockery of the Parliament and it has resulted in people daring to question the forum and wanting to create laws at Ramleela maidan and Jantar Mantar. When its turf is threatened, even an animal fights back and here, we have people directly wanting to take over the process of legislation and our legislators are still busy fighting each other. For every Raja there are Reddys and for every Ashok Chavan there is Yeddy. So please stop fooling around and make the best of this opportunity. You may not a get a second chance to win back your credibility and establish the supremacy of Parliament, so please don’t let it go down the drain.
So long…
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