Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Parliament disruption

Ever since the budget session started, hardly a day has passed without disruption of parliamentary proceedings. Parliament is adjourned for some reason or the other, the latest being the Mulayam Singh issue. It has become a ritual for the Speaker to convene a meeting of all party leaders before a session and request them to cooperate. But once in Parliament, several members behave as they like and disrupt the House. The way Parliament functioned on the day the Railway budget was presented is a matter of serious concern. In the interest of the nation, we must bring a rule saying whenever Parliament adjourns due to disruption, MPs will have to forgo their allowance.

R. Gurumurthy,
Chennai

* * *

One is saddened to see Parliament being disrupted continuously by the Opposition parties on even trivial issues. The Speaker's gesture of hosting a dinner for all party leaders and requesting their cooperation for the smooth functioning of Parliament has been of no use. Since the functioning of Parliament is beyond the judiciary's purview, there is no way the people can find a remedy even though the waste of public funds is evident.

M.K.B. Nambiar,
Mahe

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Instead of engaging in meaningful discussions to alleviate the people's suffering caused by inflation and rising prices, valuable time is wasted in Parliament. Political one-upmanship has overshadowed the common man's issues. The people's faith in representative democracy is on the decline.

D. Kishan Prasad Rao,
Hyderabad

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Gone are the days when MPs used to conduct themselves with dignity and wait for their opportunity to air their views. When uproarious scenes were few and far between. Now, something or the other comes in handy for some MPs to stall proceedings, mostly with a view to capturing the attention of their party chiefs. This tendency can perhaps be curbed if the media blacked out news of such disruptions.

P.U. Krishnan,
Udhagamandalam

* * *

The news that Parliament will have a three-day recess with Monday being declared a holiday on account of Holi is amusing. Does not Parliament have a recess on almost all days thanks to walkouts, adjournments, and absenteeism?

V.S. Venkatavaradan,
Salem

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