Murder of democracy. Black day. Emergency.
Big words that news channels are using to condemn Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar's decision to halt live proceedings of the debate about the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill today. Every news channel, with encouragement from suspended Seemandhra MPs, is crying foul.
While the telecast stopped, the house passed the Telangana bill with a voice vote. The speaker's explanation that technical snags prevented the live telecast is unconvincing. The Lok Sabha TV screen said that the house had been adjourned when it had not, something that became clear when home minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters off camera, "These things happen."
A disruption of violence in and outside Parliament, in Hyderabad and other parts of Andhra Pradesh could be one way in which the anti-Telangana lobby wanted to shock the house into not passing the bill. That's one reason why the speaker may have been right in stopping the telecast.
Like the anti-Telangana MPs who used pepper spray in the same house last week, some MPs obviously play to the cameras. The Congress party may be unable to handle its own MPs from Seemandhra, the region that does not want the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh to become a separate state, because those politicians have to watch out for their interests.
Apart from the Lok Sabha election, Telengana and Seemandhra will also hold their assembly polls. Performing for the cameras is thus key for the MPS to show their voters that they did their best to prevent Telangana from becoming a reality. Jumping into the well of the house, moving one amendment after another and using violent means are all ways of communicating that they tried to prevent the bill's passage.
Like the Lokpal bill in 2011, this is a bill about which the Congress and the BJP agree. Yet it can't become law because Parliament is held up by unparliamentary behaviour. Such is the threat of violence by Seemandhra lawmakers, including self-immolation, that central Delhi has unprecedented security.
Vijay Chowk, the road leading from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhawani and Parliament was shut to traffic. With hundreds of YSR Reddy supporters threatening to lay siege to central Delhi, the riot police has been standing by with their plastic batons, tear gas and water canons, indicating how real the threat is.
Stopping live telecast of Lok Sabha proceedings is not new. It happened when MPs were discussing the violence in Gujarat 2002 after the Godhra fire, and for a less defensible reason: someone quickly realised that broadcasting live images of BJP MPs shouting at BJP ministers was a bad idea.
Halting live telecast is also not censorship: the images can always be broadcast later. Moreover, lawmakers do a huge amount of work in parliamentary committees, whose proceedings are not broadcast at all.
Of course, the Congress party has mismanaged Telanagana as badly if not worse than other issues that have dogged the ruling United Progressive Allliance-2 that it leads. The government first announced its intention to create Telangana in 2009, but dragged its feet for cynical political calculations.
But the Opposition also has much to answer for: how often has it allowed Parliament to pass laws in the past few years? The government feels compelled to force its way through legislation because the Opposition, and in this case even Congress MPs from Seemandhra, have just not let the house function. Debate, discussion, disagreement, consensus, vote -- the standard processes of Parliament have become a distant memory.
While we must all be concerned about Parliament being reduced to a circus and not being able to performing its role, can matters of state wait until that is rectified? Can one or two small sections of the house hold the 60-year-old demand for Telanagana to hostage in the way the women's reservation bill has been held up for years?
And the drama isn't over. There's the Rajya Sabha.
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
Big words that news channels are using to condemn Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar's decision to halt live proceedings of the debate about the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill today. Every news channel, with encouragement from suspended Seemandhra MPs, is crying foul.
While the telecast stopped, the house passed the Telangana bill with a voice vote. The speaker's explanation that technical snags prevented the live telecast is unconvincing. The Lok Sabha TV screen said that the house had been adjourned when it had not, something that became clear when home minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters off camera, "These things happen."
A disruption of violence in and outside Parliament, in Hyderabad and other parts of Andhra Pradesh could be one way in which the anti-Telangana lobby wanted to shock the house into not passing the bill. That's one reason why the speaker may have been right in stopping the telecast.
Like the anti-Telangana MPs who used pepper spray in the same house last week, some MPs obviously play to the cameras. The Congress party may be unable to handle its own MPs from Seemandhra, the region that does not want the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh to become a separate state, because those politicians have to watch out for their interests.
Apart from the Lok Sabha election, Telengana and Seemandhra will also hold their assembly polls. Performing for the cameras is thus key for the MPS to show their voters that they did their best to prevent Telangana from becoming a reality. Jumping into the well of the house, moving one amendment after another and using violent means are all ways of communicating that they tried to prevent the bill's passage.
Like the Lokpal bill in 2011, this is a bill about which the Congress and the BJP agree. Yet it can't become law because Parliament is held up by unparliamentary behaviour. Such is the threat of violence by Seemandhra lawmakers, including self-immolation, that central Delhi has unprecedented security.
Vijay Chowk, the road leading from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhawani and Parliament was shut to traffic. With hundreds of YSR Reddy supporters threatening to lay siege to central Delhi, the riot police has been standing by with their plastic batons, tear gas and water canons, indicating how real the threat is.
Stopping live telecast of Lok Sabha proceedings is not new. It happened when MPs were discussing the violence in Gujarat 2002 after the Godhra fire, and for a less defensible reason: someone quickly realised that broadcasting live images of BJP MPs shouting at BJP ministers was a bad idea.
Halting live telecast is also not censorship: the images can always be broadcast later. Moreover, lawmakers do a huge amount of work in parliamentary committees, whose proceedings are not broadcast at all.
Of course, the Congress party has mismanaged Telanagana as badly if not worse than other issues that have dogged the ruling United Progressive Allliance-2 that it leads. The government first announced its intention to create Telangana in 2009, but dragged its feet for cynical political calculations.
But the Opposition also has much to answer for: how often has it allowed Parliament to pass laws in the past few years? The government feels compelled to force its way through legislation because the Opposition, and in this case even Congress MPs from Seemandhra, have just not let the house function. Debate, discussion, disagreement, consensus, vote -- the standard processes of Parliament have become a distant memory.
While we must all be concerned about Parliament being reduced to a circus and not being able to performing its role, can matters of state wait until that is rectified? Can one or two small sections of the house hold the 60-year-old demand for Telanagana to hostage in the way the women's reservation bill has been held up for years?
And the drama isn't over. There's the Rajya Sabha.