Talking and taking a walk to Rashtrapati Bhavan will not help India

Parliament is supreme and the politicians should resolve differences to govern the country

prahlad

Prahlad Rao | August 13, 2015 | New Delhi


#president   #parliament   #rashtrapti bhavan   #vijay chowk   #rahul Gandhi   #congress   #BJP  

India woke up today to another day of uncertainty and ceaseless cacophony created by the politicians. Television screens screamed that today is last day of parliament's monsoon session and no legislative business has taken place.

There were constant breaking news and two of them caught our attention. One said  the ruling NDA MPs will march from Vijay Chowk to Rashtrapati Bhavan today and the theme is ‘save democracy’.

Similarly, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will lead a delegation of Congress MPs to Rashtrapati Bhavan to request the president to intervene in resolving the FTII crisis.

This is very intriguing and interesting. In a parliamentary system like ours, the role of president is limited. He is no more than a symbol of a functioning democratic nation. It is parliament which is supreme.

Given these principles, one fails to understand why politicians are rushing to the president of India. It is like passing off your responsibility or ignoring your responsibility. The president is powerless in India and a mere symbol. Going to Rashtrapati Bhavan will be a futile walk down the Vijay Chowk (assuming they walk and not take cars to the gates), given the political posturing by both the ruling and the opposition.

India can do without these symbolic acts that serve no purpose. Who are the politicians trying to fool?  It is estimated that each minute of parliament session costs around Rs. 20,000 and already we have lost Rs 35 crore. How much they want us to lose?

Omar Abdullah, National Conference leader and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, wrote in an article in NDTV.com: “Being the leader of a party recently voted in to opposition, I find myself asking to what extent do these tactics of disruption impress our voters? Do people watch these proceedings and silently applaud their representatives? Are the silent majority put off by what they see on their TV screens, or are they just not bothered one way or the other? Does the amount of money wasted on these sessions resonate anywhere?”

The young politician makes a valid point.

Yesterday, finance minister Arun Jaitley said there was no question of Sushma Swaraj resigning. The Congress walked out in protest, saying they would not accept anything but the Prime Minister's response in the house. On Wednesday in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj responded to the Congress' allegations that her move to help tainted cricket boss Lalit Modi get urgent travel documents in Britain last year was a "crime."

Sushma Swaraj invoked the Bofors scandal that erupted when a Congress government led by Sonia Gandhi's husband Rajiv Gandhi was in power in the 1980s. The foreign minister also raised allegations that Rajiv Gandhi had helped 1984 Bhopal gas leak accused Warren Anderson, the chief of Union Carbide, leave the country without facing charges, as part of a quid pro quo.

However, Sushma indulged in counter-attack rather than offering clarification. The cacophony is going to increase as various state elections are announced and the current noise is for the Bihar polls. India has woken up and the predominantly urban India cannot be fooled by symbolic or dramatic acts.

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