This article is addressed to all defenders of the faith who are
constantly haranguing BJP to stop disrupting Parliament and save Indian
democracy. Public memory is short, media's shorter. A section of the
media also suffers from selective amnesia.
The
Vajpayee-Ied government was the first non-Congress government which
governed India for over six years. It won an election in 1999, to return
to power. It did suffer the fate of all earlier non-Congress
governments in 1998, but acquired stability in its next term.
Its success led many to believe that Congress was not going to return
to power any time soon. The resulting frustration in the Congress led to
a complete change in its parliamentary behaviour. One has merely to
look at the record of the thirteenth Lok Sabha to realise how often the
Congress resorted to disruption and how flimsy were the grounds of those
disruptions. Let me chronicle a few just to set the record straight and
refresh the memory of the defenders of the faith.
If
frequent adjournment of the Lok Sabha due to interruptions and
disorderly scenes resulted in the loss of time of 10.66% during the
Twelfth Lok Sabha, it increased to 19% during the Thirteenth Lok Sabha.
In February 2000, a circular issued by the Gujarat government, allowing
its employees to take part in the activities of the RSS paralysed the
business of Lok Sabha for at least 10 days. In December 2000, the House
was paralysed once again for eight days when CBI filed a chargesheet
against three Union ministers in the Babri Masjid case.
A
major part of the budget session of 2001 was lost because of the Tehelka
sting operation. The same thing happened when the Comptroller and
Auditor-General report on the purchase of coffins for the armed forces
was presented to Parliament. Parliament was disrupted and George
Fernandes was boycotted by the Congress in Parliament. He was described
as a Kafan Chor.
When the US forces invaded Iraq in early
2003, despite the fact that the prime minister himself made a statement
expressing strong opposition to any military action in Iraq, the
Congress insisted on Parliament passing a resolution condemning the US
action. They disrupted the proceedings of Parliament again for many days
until finally the great democrat Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee instructed
us to work out a compromise which we did.
Only then was
Parliament allowed to function. Compare Sonia Gandhi's belligerence
today to the statesmanship of Vajpayee then. The examples of
unprecedented corruption in recent years have been brought in the public
domain by none other than a constitutional body like CAG. This has made
the prime minister depart from established practice and make a
statement in Parliament on August 27, 2012, criticising CAG. An
extraordinary statement indeed by a person who has spent all his life as
an economic administrator and should know more than anyone else about
the role and responsibility of CAG.
The defenders of the
faith are quiet on this point. They never tire of reminding us that
according to our parliamentary procedure reports of CAG are
automatically referred to the PAC and are examined by the PAC. This is
absolutely correct. So, the report of the CAG on the 2G scam came to the
PAC. Indeed, this was exactly the argument given by the government to
reject our demand for a JPC.
The prime minister repeatedly
expressed his faith in the PAC and its chairman. He even offered to
appear before the PAC personally, knowing fully well that the PAC cannot
call ministers; an offer which he has not found fit to repeat for JPC.
In fact, JPC is stalemated on the issue of summoning the prime minister
and the finance minister as witnesses which BJP members are demanding
and the ruling party members are opposing stoutly. But let us return to
the theme of the PAC. PAC spent eight months deliberating on the 2G
scam.
It examined 22 witnesses during this period but when the
time came to examine the Cabinet Secretary, the Principal Secretary to
the PM and the then Solicitor-General, Attorney General Vahanvati, the
ruling party members disrupted the proceedings and did not allow the
examination of these witnesses. The defenders of the faith kept quiet.
Subsequently, the secretariat of the PAC prepared the report as is the
practice in all Parliamentary Committees.
When the report was
presented to the committee, the ruling party members indulged in rowdy
behaviour to disrupt the meeting of the PAC. In my long parliamentary
career, I have never seen such behaviour in any committee. When the
chairman of the PAC adjourned the meeting because of this disruption, a
ruling party member even occupied his chair and conducted mock
proceedings to reject the report. They even conducted a press conference
and abused the chairman.
All this was done under the direction
of the senior-most ministers of the government. The defenders of the
faith kept quiet. Parliament of India let it pass. The draft report of
the JPC was effectively buried. An attempt is being made to repeat the
same thing even in the JPC. The message is loud and clear, "we shall
indulge in corruption with impunity".
The fact of the matter is
that anyone who dares to enquire into the misdeeds of this government,
whether it be CAG, PAC, JPC, or any other constitutional body, will be
rubbished by the UPA government on the strength of its numbers. Truth
will be suppressed, their sins will be swept under the carpet and the
stale excuse on every occasion will be that they were only following NDA
policies or that BJP is also equally guilty.
The tragedy is
that with the help of a section of the media, they sometimes succeed in
their propaganda. When Congress disrupts Parliament, it is performing a
sacred national duty. When we do so, we are committing a grave crime.
When Sonia Gandhi beckons her members to attack LK Advani, it is an act
of courage and leadership. When the prime minister criticises CAG, he is
being bold. My appeal to the defenders of the faith is to refresh your
memory, go back a little into the past, do a little research and then
defend the faith.
Courtesy : The Economic Times
by Shri Yashwant Sinha
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
