Harsha Kakar
The entire monsoon session of parliament was a failure. It was during the period just preceding it (10th Jul) that the Prime Minister had met his counterpart from Pakistan at Ufa. Post the meeting and the joint reading of the common statement proposing talks between the two NSA’s, Director Generals of the BSF and Rangers and finally between the Director Generals of Military Operations,that the scenario within and between the countries commenced changing rapidly.
In India, the monsoon session of Parliament commenced soon after the Ufa meeting (21 Jul), and it was amongst the most disgraceful and unproductive sessions of parliament ever held post- independence. During this session, no business was transacted and the entire session wasted on a battle of egos between the parties. The country witnessed only inter- party rivalry and demands for resignation of ministers. Even essential bills like the GST were neither discussed nor passed.
It was during this session of parliament, that the stage was being set for talks at the NSA level between the two countries and attempts by Pakistan to derail the samesimultaneously commenced.Therefore the situation along the Line of Control (LOC) started growing from bad to worse, andIndian villages close to the border began getting targeted. The same period also saw attacks by terrorists in Gurdaspur and Udhampur. It also was witness to the capture of a terrorist post the Udhampur strike. In addition were developments on the Chinese border with incidents in the Barahoti bowl and a major Chinese live firing exercise close to the Indian border.
Yet nothing was done by the opposition parties in Parliament to discuss these grave national security issues and question the Government on its proposed actions. There was also no demand from them for the Prime Minister to give any statement on his interaction with Nawaz Sharif. No response was forthcoming from anyone except the government on the deteriorating situation along the Indo-Pak border. The opposition was only involved in its internal political battle of demanding resignations and ensuring the parliament did not function.
This was clear apathy and also a lack of desire, from the opposition, to get involved in matters concerning national security. It truly gave the impression to any Indian that nothing else mattered except the resignation of the ministers. This irresponsible attitude let Pakistan and its state sponsored ISI and LET to become bolder and bolder in its dealing with India. The two closely timed incidents of Gurdaspur and Udhampur never even got a serious comment from the main opposition. Their callous attitude let the situation continue to slide along the international border. The Government continued to still press ahead with the talks, inviting no discussion on the floor of the house or even a demand for a statement on the same from the government. By doing this, the opposition even denied the country from knowing what and how the Government proposed to deal with the growing crises, and what their views were on the same. Thus, the Government conveyed only what it desired.
Recently, when the talks were just around the corner and the complete Parliament session having been washed outwith immense financial loss to the state have these irresponsible opposition parties woken up and started making unwanted noises. They have at this belated stage begun demanding that the government justify its actions and state its position on the issues likely to come up. This should have been discussed along with a horde of national security issues during the session, but with only egos running high, everything was ignored and national security was pushed into the background. Their actions in ignoring national security issues showed immense immaturity and irresponsibleness.
Raising issues now thus served no purpose as the government justifiably completely ignored their comments and remarks. Since the Parliament is not in session there is therefore no official forum where the issues could be raised and discussed. It was known during the entire parliamentary session, that the NSA level talks were due and hence the agenda and other related issues could have been raised. The attempts by Pakistan to derail the talks and compel India to unilaterally withdraw from them commenced and continued throughout the parliament session and should have drawn comments and been discussed on the floor of the house. The opposition should have raised this issue and forced the Government to confirm its stand and intentions. Their ignoring the same is clearly indicative of their desire to be a responsible opposition and work for the betterment of the nation.
The main opposition party is now desirous of re-projecting itself by visiting the villages most affected by the firing. This again is a case of too little and too late. Throughout the session, when increased firing from Pakistan was in progress, they did little to criticize, being completely absorbed in partisan politics with personalized agenda’s. Had they criticized and protested against such action rather than against resignations, the Government would have been forced to heed and react with greater vigour and force.
What surprises me most is that this main stream opposition party; which has governed India the longest post- independence has behaved in such an irresponsible way. This is the party which could have been an ideal contributor to the discussion of dealing with the present situation had turned itself into a damp squid. What should have been discussed seriously during the monsoon session of parliament is now being meekly raised in various public forums and that too by low level staffers. It appears that they have either lost the desire or the interest to be part of any national Government in future, as also a desire to be a part of a developing nation. They appear to be but a stumbling block in nation building.
As I had brought out in my earlier articles, the nation needs maturity in politics with contributions from all members of parliament, especially in matters pertaining to national security, cutting across party linesthus ensuring that we grow economically and become a strong and powerful nation. Irresponsible behaviour as conducted in the last session would only lower the standing and esteem of political parties and politicians in the eyes of the public and this would be very detrimental for the world’s largest democracy.
(The author is former Major General)
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