Shiban Khaibri
shibankhaibri@gmail.com
” The limitation of rioting , moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it, hence rioting invites defeat involving an emotional catharsis which must be followed by a sense of futility….”
Now, it has become a precedent to learn just before commencement of a session of the Parliament that “the session is going to be increasingly stormy and tempestuous and the like and the opposition is determined to corner the government” – this we are told through media on account of inputs received by it from the political leaders. Why “stormy”, why ”tempestuous”, why “turbulent” and by whom, why and how as a practice ? As taxpaying citizens of the country, we have the right to ask this question. Pertinent , again, to ask , “why always , now as a routine, as a tradition , as a right and what for and by those very Honob’les with whom the literary meaning of Parliamentary language is associated to refer to formal , sincere, respectful , robust , knowledgeable and rule bound discourse and communication . In other words, it denotes more dignified, purposeful and cogent debate by the members and adhering to proper decorum with great regard and respect for the chair and its ruling. Again, parliamentary language and behaviour means there being no space , no room and no scope for any sort of profanity , accusations, lying, not speaking on the core subject , shouting, indulging in unruly behaviour, tearing papers and creating ruckus , not to speak with sole intent and aim to always show the government and its chief executive down and in very poor light . What, if sincerity and honesty of purpose were there, relatively better alternatives would have been suggested by the concerned opposition leaders based on comparisons and expected better results.
So far as normal dissent, disagreement and difference of viewpoint are concerned, they all fall in the domain of usual accepted parliamentary procedures and practices . In other words, healthy, powerful, logical and relevant , even highly critical debates are the mode and manner of parliamentary democracy which for the last couple of years, has undergone a sea change not for any betterment but for weakening the fabric of the very democratic process of the country and lowering its image internationally which otherwise is constantly gaining heights, a fact to be admitted. The worst, we saw , in the current Budget session of the Parliament where the Prime Minister , the leader of the House, was advised by the speaker of the Lok Sabha not to come to the House on Feb 4, 2026 to deliver his reply to the Motion of Thanks as he had reports , ”definite information” that some opposition members were planning to create an ”unexpected ”or ”unruly ” incident near the Prime Minister’s seat. The result was that the PM had to skip the speech and surprisingly the Motion of Thanks was passed on Feb 5, 2026 without his customary reply. Exposed and the ”planning” failing, the Congress led opposition is reported to mulling no-confidence motion against Speaker Om Birla , perhaps , as a damage control and face saving recourse.
Why always negative, disruptive and unproductive efforts are put in like recently moving impeachment letter against an Honourable judge of Madras High Court and now against LS Speaker ?You created such situation that the PM should not speak , thereby resorting to a catharsis of disruptions hence deriving a sadistic pleasure and claiming some sort of victory . Have you thus gained some heights in political standing , ask the people of this country this question and you will be not happy at all with the feedback which can cause you plunge further deep into sheer confusion.
Were some members of the Congress up to some untoward, awkward and completely unwarranted demeanour in front of and near the PM’s seat, as revealed by no less than the speaker of the Lok Sabha himself in the House ? Was it all within the norms of civilized behaviour ? Was it all in the interests of the “poor, the underprivileged, the farmers, the unemployed and the like” the raga of which is routinely sung by these parties day in and day out ? The latest tantrum of “Vote Chor , Gaddi Chor” too having totally and miserably failed like earlier many ones , is now graduated to totally avoidable means , disrupting parliament sessions as a routine , sloganeering in the house, displaying placards, walking up to treasury benches while shouting and hitherto never happened preventing the Prime Minister from doing his constitutional duty to replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President . Has it won the hearts of the public and drawn people closer to such parties and their leaders for voting them to power in coming elections and decidedly in 2029 ?. Let these leaders put their hands on their chests to admit so, if not, is all this humbug and sham not going to weaken our democratic process, retard our economic growth and embolden the enemies of the country from within and without? Who is going to be benefitted with this type of behaviour in the Parliament , this bedlam like scenario , causing repeated adjournments and resulting in not only suffering of the usual business but a loss of Rs.1.50 crore per hour as cost of LS proceedings .
It may be anything from the government, criticising it to the core is considered as a sacrosanct duty by most of the political leaders in the opposition. Let the reaction to the Budget by a few leaders be perused. Mamta Bannerjee claims the Budget to be, ” a garbage of lies “, a “Humpty Dumpty budget” , “direction-less, with no vision and action”. She further adds, “this budget is anti women, anti farmers, anti education, and (as usual) anti SC, anti ST and anti OBC, nothing for Bengal “. She further laments that “the economy is totally derailed” . She has further claimed on the condition of Railways that , ”Nothing has happened after I left the rail ministry , I cleared all the projects.” On analysis even very carefully, it remains to be seen as to how this budget is totally against the women, how against farmers , how nothing for education , no vision and how the economy was ”totally derailed” . There can be no more travesty and injustice with the truth that ”nothing had happened in Railways after I left” except that mismanagement, poorest customer service, unhygienic conditions in Railway stations and inside trains, no speed, no modernisation, no face changing of stinking railway stations , yawning gap between income and expenditure and mounting losses and the like have not been allowed to continue and infest the Railways which was when she was the Rail Minister . She was seen more interested and devoted towards Bengal politics than towards Railways .
Agreed, knowledge about the budget and about its knitty gritty is not everybody’s domain and to speak anything and out of context is tantamount to making a pitiable mockery of the facts and is conforming to be like an ultracrepidarian .Take another ”expert ” opinion , that of Malikarjun Kharge, he says, “it is a disappointing document that lacks the vision and fails to address the core economic issues, Modi government has run out of ideas , a budget – a mere repetition and recycling of old ideas rather than a blueprint for growth – not addressing skyrocketing inflation and rising economic inequality.” It is another thing to have faced a two digit inflation with an average of 8.12% during the Congress rule of 2004 to 2014 as against an average of less than 5% during NDA rule and current rate being around 2.1% . The world acknowledges that India’s growth is high and inflation is quite low , a scenario quite opposite to in most of the developed countries , an assurance to investors and business community as more fiscal and regulatory policies for both were to open new areas and vistas to create employment opportunities and cause spurt in demand and supply. On the contrary, our opposition leaders see only gloom, pessimism, negativity, no growth , no vision and what not. If the government takes some steps towards reforms, severe criticism would be there . Had this budget promised moon for the states going to polls shortly , it would have been termed as brazen populism , when the FM did not oblige the prospective severe critics, another type of blame is there- ”nothing for Tamil Nadu”, “West Bengal ignored so on and so forth. ”
Take the case of Trump’s tariffs, there was unfortunately a sort of jubilation in the opposition getting a stick to beat the government with, and when the restraint, wait and watch, a firm stand and steadfast response and the like from this side triumphed resulting in the lowest of 18% tariff , it is termed as “Tariff trap” and “surrender” just like in operation Sindoor – “Narender surrender”. Is it all a frustration, a dejection , seeing a dark tunnel with no immediate ray of hope – of winning elections and gaining power – that is building up the pent up emotions which as catharsis is seen in disrupting parliament proceedings and raising non-issues by the select opposition? A story about a non performing unsuccessful employee getting grilled by his boss daily going home in the evening whipping a tree in the backyard of his house and vomiting balla balla balla , thus as a means of catharsis feeling having ”taught a lesson ” to the boss. The innocent boss, in fact, is least affected, instead the said non performing employee is.
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