Of late stalling the Indian Parliament has become a rule rather than exception. In fact it was a practice started by the BJP, then country’s principal Opposition party. The Congress, after being reduced to a double-digit party, continued the trend, clearly forgetting its criticism of the BJP then. Perhaps the Congress learnt from the BJP on this count. It figured that despite the hullabaloo in Parliament, it made little difference to the people when they went to cast their vote. Rather it helped focus issues agitating minds and brought the principle opposition party centre-stage like it did the BJP when it was out of power. There are enough instances of BJP members trooping to the well of the House and holding it to ransom leaving the Chair no option but to repeatedly adjourn the House.Caste discriminations and untouchable instincts still run high
Kumkum Chadha
Of late stalling the Indian Parliament has become a rule rather than exception. In fact it was a practice started by the BJP, then countrys principal Opposition party. The Congress, after being reduced to a double-digit party, continued the trend, clearly forgetting its criticism of the BJP then. Perhaps the Congress learnt from the BJP on this count. It figured that despite the hullabaloo in Parliament, it made little difference to the people when they went to cast their vote. Rather it helped focus issues agitating minds and brought the principle opposition party centre-stage like it did the BJP when it was out of power. There are enough instances of BJP members trooping to the well of the House and holding it to ransom leaving the Chair no option but to repeatedly adjourn the House.
When an entire session was wiped out, the BJP chuckled and dubbed it its success. Of course on public platforms it professed that they would like Parliament to function but for the Governments insensitivity to their demands.
Last years election results, that went hugely in BJPs favour, proved that to the common man it makes little difference whether or not Parliament functions. What does is, whether there has been a qualitative difference government policies and actions have made to his life.
The Congress, therefore, adopted the formula and as an Opposition party did to the BJP what the BJP had done to it. It stalled Parliament and held up business including important legislations like the GST that the Government is desperate to see through. Many of its members, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul have trooped to the well of the House shouting slogans and disrupting proceedings.
Seemingly adept at flexing its muscles, the Congress Party is in the forefront with its lung- power in full play. Earlier this week, Congress disrupted the Rajya Sabha, Parliaments Upper House or House of Elders, following what in the corridors was termed as the caste war.
It started with Kumari Seljas allegation that she had been asked about her caste on a visit to the Lord Krishna temple in Dwarka in 2013 when she was a Union Minister. Kumari Selja, a Rajya Sabha member, made this comment during a debate on the Constitution.
Taking the Congress head on, as it attempted to set the record straight, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, made a suo moto statement in the House and said that he had received intimation that in her capacity as Union Minister Kumari Selja had praised the temple management. He then pulled out a page from the visitors book and read out what Kumari Selja had written. It read: With Lord Krishnas blessings, I had a very good darshan. The upkeep and the maintenance of the premises is excellent. She, Jaitley told the House, complimented the temple in writing, let alone complain against any kind of discrimination which took place there.
Selja countered by saying that she had made it clear that the incident took place at Bet Dwarka and not in the main temple. She then asked Jaitley not to mislead the House. If Kumari Selja charged Jaitley and company with being undignified and lacking in grace, Power Minister Piyush Goyal, alleged that Selja was lowering the level of debate: This Goyal said, is another incident of manufactured problems and manufactured discrimination.
This was enough to enrage the Congress that stalled proceedings and demanded an apology from Goyal. If at the start of the day, Congress slogans were casteist, by the afternoon they targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They started with Dalit mahila ka apman bandh karo, stop insulting dalit women, to Narendra Modi maafi maango, Narendra Modi apologize.
The Congress got a shot in the arm with other Opposition parties joining in. The Trinamool Congress said that a provocative remark had come from the government, which is serious and should be withdrawn. The statement, it said, was almost like calling Selja a liar. The CPM said that the member had been insulted.
The issue, irrespective of what happened when Selja visited the temple, has triggered the caste conflict. It has reignited the discrimination debate yet again. That temples have restricted entry is well known. They discriminate on the basis of caste and bar entry to the lower castes. The Nathdwara temple, like many others, has seen several agitations on the issue of Harijan entry to the temple. The law is equal for all but when it comes to religion, many temples do not allow lower castes or non-Hindus to enter. Mrs Indira Gandhi was barred entry in a temple in Datia, Madhya Pradesh on grounds that she had, after marrying a Parsi, ceased to be a Hindu. It was only after high-level intervention that she was let in. Sonia Gandhi also suffered a similar situation on account of her being a foreigner.
Caste apart, many temples impose dress restrictions. For instance most temples in the South do not allow jeans. Others ensure that devotees don traditional attire. Men must wear dhotis and women saris.
Temples apart, discrimination is at its peak in every segment of the society. In many villages throughout the length and breadth of the country, there are separate wells for the lower castes to draw water from. Untouchability also reigns high.
Therefore it is not about governments but about mindsets. This perhaps is the point Selja was trying to make and perhaps what the Government missed. In her remarks outside the House, she made it clear that she wanted to say that some things havent changed for 5000 years.
The Government, in turn, indulged in a slanging match and tried to corner Selja and prove to the House that what she was saying was far from the truth. They erroneously believed that she was hitting out at the ruling dispensation. It is in this context that Goyals allegation of manufactured discrimination was misplaced and unnecessary.
It also demonstrated the persecution complex of Modi loyalists. Clearly they think that every word uttered against them is a hit out at Modi and his men. That fact that Selja was Union Minister when this happened only substantiates that discrimination is an evil India has lived with and perhaps will, for many more decades irrespective of governments. Therefore to reduce it to a them versus us is doing disservice to the country in general and Parliament
in particular.
More importantly it is failing those segments of society who look up to their representatives for pushing their cause and seeing them as equals. In issues like these all parties, irrespective of ideology, caste, class, community and creed must sink their differences and speak in one voice and do for their electorate what is long overdue. They must end their bickering and strive to better the lot of those who vote them in, believing that this time around things might change.
The writer is a senior Indian journalist, political commentator and columnist of The Independent. She can be reached at: ([email protected])
