31 July 2010
PROTESTS PART OF DEMOCRACY, BUT NOT LOGJAM, SAYS ANSARI
From Our Delhi Bureau
NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha chairman Dr Hamid Ansari on Saturday expressed his dismay over the logjam in Parliament, preventing any debate or useful business, and asked the newly elected MPs to use influence over their party leaders to curb habitual protests beyond a limit that serve no purpose.
He was inaugurating an orientation programme for the new members of the House. He held discussions with leaders of the Opposition parties on Friday and continued the exercise inviting leaders of the treasury benches to put an end to the week-long pandemonium over price rise stalling the House.
Dr Ansari told the new MPs that protest is an essential ingredient of democratic functioning but the questions to be asked are: Can protest be the only form of functioning? Can it be the totality of our forms of expression? "Protest in registering a point is well made. Protest, when it becomes habitual, loses its novelty and therefore its effect," he said.
He frankly admitted that he does not have solution to the logjams in Parliament because of such protests. The chair cannot impose a solution, it has to come from the collective wisdom of the members of the House, he said.
Pointing out that there can be genuine issues of concern that the parties want to raise in the House, he said they can make a point by debating. "Much too often, we take the view that if we simply disrupt the proceedings of the House, we will make our point," he said asking the parties to devise ways by which "right to protest remains unchecked, but that protest does not become an impediment to the rest of your work."
He also asked the parties to make use of instruments like Question Hour, Special Mentions, Calling Attention and Short Duration discussions to hold the government accountable, responsible for individual acts of omission and commission.
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PROTESTS PART OF DEMOCRACY, BUT NOT LOGJAM, SAYS ANSARI
From Our Delhi Bureau
NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha chairman Dr Hamid Ansari on Saturday expressed his dismay over the logjam in Parliament, preventing any debate or useful business, and asked the newly elected MPs to use influence over their party leaders to curb habitual protests beyond a limit that serve no purpose.
He was inaugurating an orientation programme for the new members of the House. He held discussions with leaders of the Opposition parties on Friday and continued the exercise inviting leaders of the treasury benches to put an end to the week-long pandemonium over price rise stalling the House.
Dr Ansari told the new MPs that protest is an essential ingredient of democratic functioning but the questions to be asked are: Can protest be the only form of functioning? Can it be the totality of our forms of expression? "Protest in registering a point is well made. Protest, when it becomes habitual, loses its novelty and therefore its effect," he said.
He frankly admitted that he does not have solution to the logjams in Parliament because of such protests. The chair cannot impose a solution, it has to come from the collective wisdom of the members of the House, he said.
Pointing out that there can be genuine issues of concern that the parties want to raise in the House, he said they can make a point by debating. "Much too often, we take the view that if we simply disrupt the proceedings of the House, we will make our point," he said asking the parties to devise ways by which "right to protest remains unchecked, but that protest does not become an impediment to the rest of your work."
He also asked the parties to make use of instruments like Question Hour, Special Mentions, Calling Attention and Short Duration discussions to hold the government accountable, responsible for individual acts of omission and commission.
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