‘Democracy can become a tyranny without criticism’
IN PARLIAMENT VicePresident Hamid Ansari bids goodbye to the Rajya Sabha as members praise him for the way he handled the House
As Vice-President Hamid Ansari bid adieu to the Rajya Sabha, he cautioned that if opposition parties were not allowed to freely criticise the government’s policies, a democracy ran the risk of turning into a tyranny.
In his farewell speech in the Upper House, which he presided over for 10 years, Ansari quoted India’s first vice-president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan to say, “Democracy can become a tyranny if opposition parties are not allowed to criticise government policies. The opposition also has no right to disrupt the House.”
Ansari, who was hailed by opposition leaders for not allowing passage of bills in din, maintained that the Rajya Sabha’s role was to be a calibrated restraint on hasty legislation.
“It has upheld that discussion is an indispensable preliminary to wise action, deviation from this golden rule neither to diligent policy making nor to our claim to be a mature democracy,” Ansari said as former PM Manmohan Singh thanked Ansari for being a friend, philosopher and guide.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jaitley and others thanked Ansari for his role in handling the Upper House. The Vice-President also recalled that when he entered the House, an eminent leader told him that he would have to face a lot of troubles but he should keep smiling.
“I ventured to think that I succeeded in fair measures. The chair is just an umpire in cricket and its only source of reference is the Rule Book,” he said in his parting shot as he recited Urdu couplets and bid adieu amid a standing ovation.
Along with Ansari, three other members — CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Trinamool’s Debabrata Bandopadhyay and BJP’s Dilip Pandya — also bid farewell as their term came to an end.
The House showered effusively praise on Yechury as finance minister Arun Jaitley said he raised the standard of debate.
Jaitley quipped that the CPI(M) leader never became a part of the government but made comments that were not practical or implementable.
Pandya, an RSS member since he was eight years old, advised rival MPs not to criticise the organisation.
To this, Yechury said had Pandya, who was otherwise silent, spoken more in the House, he would have drawn more inspiration to attack the RSS.
Yechury also spoke about the days of UPA coalition and said, “We have the intellectual patent of the term outside support.”
Parliamentary affairs Minister Ananth Kumar asserted in the Lok Sabha on Thursday that those involved in the abduction case of a 29-year old woman in Chandigarh would be punished. “Even the victim is appreciating the prompt action taken by the Chandigarh Police. Whosoever has committed the wrong would be punished. No one will be let off,” Kumar said.
The assurance came after Congress member Deepender Hooda raised the issue, demanding action against the culprits as well as those trying to hurt the image of the woman on social media.
Raising the matter during the Zero Hour mentions, Hooda wanted to know why no female officer was present when the statement of the victim was recorded.
BJP member from Chandigarh, Kirron Kher, responded by saying that Union home minister Rajnath Singh had given a clear direction to police not to yield to political pressure in the case and do whatever was right. Saying that she had championed the rights of girls, Kher said one should accept that there are societal norms. HTC
After kicking up a controversy last week by asking people to shoot Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu on the streets for “failing to fulfil preelection promises”, YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Thursday called for hanging Naidu in public.
“What is wrong in asking for Naidu’s hanging for cheating the public with false promises?” Jagan asked, while addressing a series of road shows in Nandyal in Kurnool district, where by-elections are scheduled to be held on August 23.
Jagan’s comments came almost at the same time when chief electoral officer Bhanwarlal told media he had received the explanation from the YSR Congress party president for his inflammatory comments against the chief minister during his public meeting at Nandyal on August 3. “I am sending a report on his explanation to the Election Commission, which will take a decision,” Bhanwarlal said. The EC had taken suo motu cognizance of his comments and served a notice on him, seeking an explanation.
SRINIVASA RAO APPARASU