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Tuesday, Jul 22, 2008
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Manmohan Singh signs off with a prayer

New Delhi Bureau

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, among the first MPs to arrive in Parliament on Monday, flashed the victory sign to journalists thronging the entrance to the House.

Once the proceedings began, he moved the confidence motion, made a brief introductory speech, and signed off with a savaya (recitation) from gurbani.

The savaya is recited by the Sikh, Punjab and Sikh Light regiments as a prayer before crucial operations and mobilisations.

Thanks to Dr. Singh’s lack of familiarity with the written script, he fumbled as he read along. But the combative message escaped no one. The couplet, as translated by Punjab regiment historian Col. Anil Shorey, reads: “Grant me, my Lord, the boon that I may not falter in doing good, nor do I have fear in my heart when I fight in the battlefield. May I always have pure thoughts in my mind and never be tempted by greed; and when my end shall come, may I die fighting in the battle.”

* * *

The serious discussion had its lighter moments. The House burst into laughter when Ramgopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party) concluded his speech with an appeal to the Opposition: If the United Progressive Alliance regime was defeated, the government would continue as would the Ministers. The losers, of course, would be the MPs who would lose their jobs. Citing past trends,

Mr. Yadav reminded the members that 60 per cent of the sitting MPs either lost the next election or were not given ticket.

The percentage could rise, Mr. Yadav warned, adding: “Therefore, I appeal to all MPs to let the government complete its term.”

* * *

The “action” in the Central Hall of Parliament somewhat reflected the heated debate inside the Lok Sabha. The Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Haryana were seen exchanging notes animatedly with MPs as they came out for a “break.”

Leaders held forth and both sides claimed that victory would be theirs come Tuesday. Congress chief whip Madhusudan Mistry treated journalists and politicians to ‘pakoras’ in advance of victory celebrations.

* * *

When Pranab Mukherjee started elaborating on the Hyde Act in the course of his speech, he was heckled by an Opposition MP who chanted “hide, hide.” The Minister lost his cool and shouted back “Don’t act smart. This is a serious discussion. There is no need for punning on words.”

At one point BJP member Harin Pathak interrupted Mr. Mukherjee, shouting “prices, prices.” Mr. Pathak, who got an earful from the Congress MPs for this interruption, hit back saying the Congress had interrupted Mr. Advani 20 times and he was only returning the compliment. At this, Mr. Mukherjee said: “Please don’t compare me to the Leader of the Opposition. He is a prospective Prime Minister, I’m a small player, even smaller than you.”

* * *

In the course of his speech, Mr. Mukherjee recalled a conversation with CPI(M) MP Hannan Mollah. Mr. Mukherjee asked Mr. Mollah why he was voting with the BJP, to which the latter replied that he could not jump off the train just because the BJP was also on it. “I told him, don’t jump off. I don’t want to see you hurt. Just get off at the next station and wait for the next train. This way you will be delayed but you will not travel with the BJP.”

* * *

The galleries in the Lok Sabha were overflowing. The Speaker’s gallery was occupied by Somnath Chatterjee’s family. The Rajya Sabha gallery was so crowded that the newspaper owner and MP Shobhana Bhartia and Congress MP Jayanthi Natarajan had to sit on the steps. The crowds thinned out by the time Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh arrived.

* * *

Lal Krishna Advani, who opened the debate for the Opposition, said he found it an irony that for the first time in parliamentary history, a Prime Minister (because he is from the Rajya Sabha) would not be able to vote on his won confidence motion. Mr. Mukherjee interrupted him to make the point that Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral too had not voted on their confidence motions. Mr. Mukherjee’s excited repartee, “Gowda voted? Gujral voted?” had Sonia Gandhi clapping in approval.

* * *

The day Parliament met to discuss the confidence motion was also the day seven new members were sworn in. Among them were three first-time MPs, all under 35.

The youngest was Agatha Sangma, daughter of the former Speaker P.A. Sangma and newly elected MP from Tura. The other two were Anuragh Singh Thakur (born in 1974), son of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and MP from Hamirpur, and Anand Prakash Paranjpe (born in 1973), son of the former Shiv Sena MP Prakash Paranjpe and MP from Thane.

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