Anil Anand
There has been the tardy tradition of every political party having a shouting brigade in two Houses of Parliament to silence the rival groups on issues of disagreement or push through legislation sometimes without acknowledging the Opposition’s point of view. This certainly is not a healthy tradition but fortunately or unfortunately shouting has become part of Parliamentary/ Legislative practices.
Fortunate aspect of the malady is that it does not border physical violence. Unfortunate because it threatens to cloud everything that is good about Parliamentary practices.
The shouting brigade terminology, in its present form, became more registered when the then Prime Minister Mr Rajiv Gandhi’s team of shouters made headlines both inside and outside the Parliament House. Incidentally one of the key members of this brigade Mr Surinder Singh Ahluwalia now happens to be a senior member of the BJP performing the same task with aplomb with the assistance of a younger brigade as well. His erstwhile party the Congress has also discovered a young brigade of rabble rousers.
There is nothing unconstitutional about shouting at each other if this remains within the parameters of nicety. Many would argue that shouting and nicety perhaps cannot go together. But in the context of Parliamentary/ Legislative proceedings a fine line can be drawn and which had been amply proved by eminent Parliamentarians in the past. The thin line, again in the current context, should be to desist from personal comments hitting below the belt.
The just ended Monsoon Session of Parliament has set a new low in terms of shouting and hurling charges that sometimes bordered personal character assassination in one or the other form. The ilks of Mr Ahluwalia who had been a peripheral force in whatever political party they are, have made a living out of this image and have most of the times gone into oblivion only to be noticed after next bout of shouting. Perhaps it has been on this account that their political careers did not move beyond a point.
The Monsoon Session has created certain unhealthy precedents that are worrying since these have been set by none other than the leading lights of the two main political parties the BJP and the Congress. The worry expressed by veteran politician Mr Sharad Pawar that he had never seen such bitterness, as in this Session, during his entire political career is a telling comment and must raise everyone’s hair in concern. The obvious reference was to highly personalised and acidic face-off between External Affairs Minister Mrs Sushma Swaraj and Congress vice-president Mr Rahul Gandhi.
Where do we go from here when the two top leaders of rival parties launch a no-holds-bar attack not only on each other but their respective family members as well? The one corollary, and in jest, of this development is that Mr Ahluwalia and his compatriots, and new shouting brigade of the Congress now run the danger of being rendered workless. But on a broader scale it could be safely said that the malady has touched its nadir. It is peaking.
No doubt that Mrs Swaraj is a brilliant speaker who heavily relies on spinning a net with words. And there is also no doubt that she must have been rattled by insinuations questioning her honesty and credibility. Whatever she spoke in the context of attack on Mrs Sonia Gandhi and her entire family was least expected from a veteran politician who has a record of sorts in political niceties.
Mr Rahul Gandhi has, of late, been on a desperate course to rediscover himself. Perhaps an ill advice that shouting and name calling is the best alternative to his earlier silence has had a mesmerising effect on him. The veteran and the struggler pulled punches and hit at each other at places which in sporting terms are a clear infringement or a foul.
The worry emanates from here. Mrs Swaraj had been the most balanced voice in the entire Sangh Parivar and not alone BJP. She suddenly chose to throw into the wind the entire gamut she had believed in during 38 years of her political career. It is a major cause of worry more from the nation’s point of view rather than her personal outlooks. It will be naive to discuss here this glaring change in any political context, of internal or external dimension to her, as the issue involved is much wider and significant.
In the same context Mr Gandhi could have been better advised as how to counter the veteran politician using better words and arguments. In his keenness to catch public attention he has adopted a short-cut to figure in the headlines. He lost an opportunity to rise above the normal and humble the politically indomitable Mrs Swaraj through a presentation punctuated with barbs and pun.
There is a more worrying aspect. The respective fan-following of the two leaders including among the journalists have hailed their weird argumentative skill which was reflected during this dual. Whatever the fan-mail may think about the two leaders, the fact of the matter is that both have lost and more seriously caused a great damage to Parliamentary practices.
A silverlining could be that this one-off, one hopes, episode should start a debate on how to check this rot. It was witnessed in Parliament in 2015 and it has been an ongoing process in many of the state Assemblies.
And finally, this malady is not limited to Mrs Swaraj and Mr Gandhi. It has afflicted the body politics across the board. The alarm has to be raised as the two of them happen to be senior leaders of their respective parties especially Mr Swaraj who has a national stature acquired over the years.
(feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com)
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