The Hindu : National : A session to his liking

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Wednesday, Aug 31, 2005

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National

A session to his liking

Special Correspondent

Speaker recalls his early days in Parliament

NEW DELHI: : The monsoon session of Parliament had just ended on Tuesday afternoon and Speaker Somnath Chatterjee was in a good mood. After all, during the session the Opposition had had its say with two adjournment motions and a record number of discussions and calling attention motions and the Government was able to get 16 Bills passed.

Addressing a press conference, he obliquely referred to allegations against him that the Speaker speaks too much, instead of being one who should speak the least and hear others.

"When I first entered Parliament in the early seventies, it took me more than six months to open my mouth," he recalled. Those were the days when A.K. Gopalan was the leader of his party, and, he, and other "giants" who were at that time in the Lok Sabha never gave him a chance.

He was thinking of setting up a forum of young parliamentarians with the idea of discussing issues with them and allowing them to become familiar with parliamentary practices so that they could become effective.

"The future is with them," he commented. And it was not such a bad thing that some of them took their time before making their maiden speeches, for there was no point in blundering along, he said. He was more than sympathetic to the first time MPs who were still learning skills needed in Parliament and were shy of making their presence felt.

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