Far Too Many Disruptions by Congress, says HD Deve Gowda

Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, the oldest member of Rajya Sabha, has written to senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi expressing concern over “chaos” inside Parliament and its premises by Opposition parties, particularly by her party’s MPs.

“I strongly feel that Congress parliamentarians, led by the leader of Opposition, have provided far too many disruptions inside Parliament and in its premises. Their dharnas and blockades outside Parliament are unprecedented. Parliament in recent times has witnessed an excess of slogan shouting, display of placards and name-calling,” he said in a two-page letter. Describing it as an attitude of non-seriousness, he said it has assaulted his very idea of construct of Parliament and parliamentary democracy.

The nonagenarian Janata Dal (Secular) leader, whose son HD Kumaraswamy is minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises in the Narendra Modi government, asked Sonia Gandhi to urge her party leaders and encourage a “return to parliamentary democracy”, using her political experience and guidance as one of the most senior leaders. “You can perhaps ask them not to harm themselves, their cause and their political futures, in the long run.”

Comparing his experience of running government at the Centre and as chief minister in Karnataka, he said the Opposition had always acted with restraint that national interests demanded. “Even when they protested, they did not block the entrance to Parliament, make their gathering look like a tea-shop assembly, and worse order tea, biscuits and pakoras, sitting on the steps of Parliament,” he said.

Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s having tea and biscuits during an Opposition protest at the parliament’s Makar Dwar entrance had become a bone of contention between the treasury benches and Opposition. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said the Speaker had given a ruling against such gatherings at the six entrances of Parliament.

Gowda, in his letter, said he was greatly disturbed by a “certain chaos that has been unthinkingly introduced inside Parliament, and in its larger premises, primarily by the Opposition parties. I am not sure if you visualise the consequences of such unchecked activity and circulation of negative energy.” He expressed apprehensions that it may immensely harm the foundations of democracy and leave a trail of indelible bitterness.

“When the world over, democracies have had to manage enormous pressures with a delicate balance, the Opposition, I feel, should function with an awareness that their excess can cause immense harm to its very survival. In fact, they should be the guardians of parliamentary decorum, procedure and traditions.”

Asserting that his idea of parliamentary democracy has been built on lessons and guidance imparted by Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, BR Ambedkar and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, among others, he said that he had never witnessed Parliament in “such chaos and casualness that we have seen recently.”