The Hindu : Front Page : Kalam cautions against `dubious' steps to form government

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 22, 2005

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Front Page

Kalam cautions against `dubious' steps to form government

By Our Special Correspondent

PAT FOR PRIME MINISTER: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam presenting the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award for the year 2002 to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Parliament House in New Delhi on Monday, as Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee looks on . — Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

NEW DELHI, MARCH 21. The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, today cautioned legislators against using "dubious and undemocratic" measures to put together a government as these had begun to create doubts over India's democratic system in the public eye. He was addressing a function organised in Parliament to confer the Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards for four years from 1999.

Making out a case for introspection, Mr. Kalam said: "The arithmetical compulsions of incremental numbers and the alleged tradability of certain legislative seats, won perhaps through means allegedly dubious and undemocratic, have many a time created doubts in our democratic system in the public eye. When politics degrades itself to political adventurism, the nation would be on the calamitous road to inevitable disaster and ruination. Let us not risk it."

The need of the hour, the President said, was not so much "political politics" but "developmental politics." "There are many national issues, which have to be pursued by Parliament beyond party ideologies ... The discussions, debates, generation of alternative ideas and consensus arrived at towards these goals through the parliamentary process will certainly lead India towards the path of reaching a developed India even before 2020. Hence, Parliament has to spend all the time with competitive spirit to carry out the developmental tasks in time."

In his address, the Vice-President, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, asked MPs to show greater determination and sensitivity to solving the problems of the poor and the unemployed and to ensure healthcare for all. By doing so, democracy would be further strengthened and people's confidence in the parliamentary institutions would increase.

Fifth pillar of democracy

The welfare of the poor and the deprived constituted the fifth pillar of democracy, Mr. Shekhawat said. This pillar provided strength to the other four pillars.

Mr. Kalam presented the Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards for 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 to the former Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, the Human Resource Development Minister, Arjun Singh, the former External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, and the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

In his acceptance speech, the Prime Minister called for introspection and said: "There can be little doubt that the standards of debate and the general atmosphere within which we carry out our business have, of late, been declining. Without pointing fingers, we need to examine whether we are living up to the standards set by great Parliamentarians of the early years of our Independence... When in the House, we could be more willing to listen to each other, even if we disagree, for that is the essence of democracy."

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