Indian Parliament

The Indian parliament really lived up to its name yesterday ..I was rather afraid that they might let the opportunity for a grand ruckus slip through their fingers .They proved me wrong and how!While the earlier commotions on almost all issues were merely a energetic rushing into the well ,yesterday we saw our elected members do us proud by snatching the paper from right under the Chairman's nose .When it comes to guarding our rights ,our MP s are truly aware that they are the rulers and they are the ones who have got the mandate .So who is a chairman to them ..just a man on the chair ....

The woman's reservation bill is one ,that I sincerely believe, will never go through parliament .Even if it does, all those who enter through those reservations will be wives , daughters ,grand daughters and daughters- in- law of existing netas.So as party after party shifts blame they all know that the bill will mostly remain what it always was ... just a bill ...So whether the bill was debated or whether they voted is not something I am seriously concerned with .

I am ,within my short memory trying to look for a date on which the parliament was allowed to function .As far as I can recall ,nowhere in the recent past has the esteemed house able to function without the hoologanism that has come to characterise its members.Day after day we see members rushing to the well ,shouting slogans and in the chair the Speaker sits and pleads that they let the house function and in an act of final desperation adjourns the house .Business in parliament has become synonymous with no action and all noise.

If I am right ,it was in the days of Rajiv Gandhi that the ruling Congress formed an official "shouting brigade ",as it was nicknamed in the press, with the irrepressible Mani Shankar Aiyer at it head .Their only duty was to shout whenever an opposition member spoke low of the Govt .All other parties which have seriously simulated the Congress in factionism and what not have also incorporated into their own systems ,their own shouting brigades .With all parties letting loose their own version of it how can any work go on ?

Every newspaper carries articles on how much money is wasted when the house does not function and how politicians are demeaning democracy and so forth .All these unfortunately do not remedy the situation or take us anywhere near the solution .With television channels becoming the new age image makers or breakers ,we cannot blame our netas for not foregoing their chance on primetime .After all there is no business like show business..........