Although the winter session of Parliament ended on Friday, yet the events that took place a day earlier leading to verbal exchanges between the treasury members and the Opposition following injuries to at least three MPs, should make our political class to introspect. Never before have such scenes been witnessed and the unsubstantiated charge against the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi was totally uncalled for. It is extremely unfortunate that such an incident took place in the premises of Parliament House and it is now for an impartial inquiry to ascertain as to who all were at fault. The only way of reaching the truth is by going through the CCTV coverage which must have recorded the entire sequence of events. To the naked eye after watching the TV coverage, it appears that there was a push from the back and this resulted in two BJP MPs being knocked down with another MP accusing Rahul Gandhi of doing this deliberately. It is unthinkable that Rahul would have done anything like that and though a FIR against him has been registered by the Delhi police, it would greatly help to unravel the truth through impartial investigation. It should also be ascertained how the MPs of both sides came so close to each other while demonstrating and how were sticks to placards allowed within the precincts of the Parliament. Somebody needs to be held accountable for this.
The relations between the Opposition and the Treasury benches in both the Houses have been tense and during this session, it was unprecedented when the Vice President who is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha was openly accused of taking sides while discharging his duties. The BJP has been quick to defend him but the conduct of both the presiding officers has been under scrutiny for some time, and their rulings have more often than not, raised questions about their unbiased judgment. The House also saw an open clash between the Congress and the BJP over allegations made against Industrialist Gautam Adani and also the attempts to implicate Sonia Gandhi and her family with anti-National forces allegedly prompted by American tycoon George Soros. Instead of focussing on many issues which needed immediate attention, the Parliament spent extra-ordinary time on the Adani-Soros matter and as result the Houses hardly functioned.
There was a debate on the anniversary of the Constitution and expectedly, the time was used by both sides to show each other in poor light. Matters came to a head when Home Minister while speaking in the Rajya Sabha, urged Opposition to stop chanting Ambedkar’s name repeatedly and advised them that if instead they had invoked God with the same zeal, they would go to Heaven. This statement sparked a major controversy and the Congress as well as the entire INDIA bloc accused Amit Shah of insulting Ambedkar, the father of the Constitution. The Congress demanded his resignation and also asked the Prime Minister to sack him. This resulted in verbal clashes which led to the confrontation outside Parliament on Thursday. The point which has arisen is that the Congress and the BJP have both been trying to appropriate Ambedkar’s legacy when both had opposed the legal luminary and National icon for many years. The Sangh Parivar had never endorsed Ambedkar’s concepts which differed from those of the RSS and the Congress till Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure, had not accepted his philosophy either. In fact, soon after Independence after a fallout with Ambedkar, the Congress had propped up Babu Jagjiwan Ram as the Dalit hero and face. Babuji was an extremely competent politician and as long as he lived, he occupied his own space in National politics. However, this space, many believe was at the expense of Dr Ambedkar who was humiliated by the Congress and also made to lose elections because the grand old party never allowed him to emerge on the national scene. Ambedkar was rediscovered and resurrected by Vishwanath Pratap Singh who also conferred the Bharat Ratna on him posthumously. The Socialists and many other leaders opposed to the Congress, backed Ambedkar fully and he was given his rightful place after many years. But had he been alive, he would have been a very sad man if he would have witnessed all that went on in his name. Dr Ambedkar is like a God for many who follow Dalit politics and even beyond that he is viewed as someone who was so learned and perceptive, a truly a national icon. The latest instance where the two major parties clashed with each other was to misappropriate his legacy for the sake of votes. It is hard to imagine that the two outfits would play so much of politics in his name if it had not been beneficial to them for political purposes. Dr Ambedkar was as tall a leader as anyone else has been during the freedom struggle and after that. His followers do not consider him, less than a God or a spiritual messiah who showed them the way of fighting for equality and similar rights with those who were more privileged.
The short point after watching the Parliament proceedings is that the political parties should stop indulging in political gimmicks and instead focus on matters that impact the people. Adani and Soros do not have any resonance with the common man and it is a futile exercise in one sense to make them the central theme of the proceedings. Parliament is supreme and its sanctity can only be upheld if its decorum is maintained and members conduct themselves with both dignity and orderly behaviour.
