Harivansh Narayan Singh, the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, who was heckled and humiliated by opposition MPs, brought tea for them while they were protesting in Parliament lawn against the suspension. This statesman like gesture is winning the hearts of the people and he is being applauded by people across the political spectrum.
While the opposition MPs including TMC’s Derek O’Brien and AAP’s Sanjay Singh tried to disrupt the functioning of the house, threw rule book on the Deputy Chairman, broke the microphones and so on, the Deputy Chairman went to those MPs with tea. The Prime Minister also applauded this gesture.
To personally serve tea to those who attacked and insulted him a few days ago as well as those sitting on Dharna shows that Shri Harivansh Ji has been blessed with a humble mind and a big heart. It shows his greatness. I join the people of India in congratulating Harivansh Ji.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 22, 2020
“To personally serve tea to those who attacked and insulted him a few days ago as well as those sitting on Dharna shows that Shri Harivansh Ji has been blessed with a humble mind and a big heart. It shows his greatness. I join the people of India in congratulating Harivansh Ji,” tweeted the Prime Minister.
For centuries, the great land of Bihar has been teaching us the values of democracy. In line with that wonderful ethos, MP from Bihar and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Shri Harivansh Ji’s inspiring and statesman like conduct this morning will make every democracy lover proud.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 22, 2020
“For centuries, the great land of Bihar has been teaching us the values of democracy. In line with that wonderful ethos, MP from Bihar and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Shri Harivansh Ji’s inspiring and statesman like conduct this morning will make every democracy lover proud,” he wrote in another tweet.
The opposition always cries foul over democracy while doing acts of hooliganism at the same time. MPs like Derek O’Brien, whose party has been accused of attacking BJP and RSS workers in the last few years in West Bengal, cries that BJP is shoving knife in the heart of democracy, and disrupt the parliament in frustration of being not able stall the bills in RS which was till now dominated by the opposition.
For the last six years, the Rajya Sabha has become a playground for the opposition to display its dirty tactics against the development agenda of the Modi government. Congress and a few other opposition parties were opposing the farmer bills while Congress had included the same promises in the manifesto.
Aam Aadmi Party, which has only 3 members in the Upper House of the parliament, also wants to save “democracy” in the house by attacking the Deputy Chairman while its former leader Tahir Hussain has been held for inciting riots in Delhi.
By bringing tea to the people who assaulted him, the Deputy Chairman has shown true “Gandhigiri” and how demoacratic values are actually practised while the opposition continues to sermonize the BJP about democracy. The long opinion pieces in sophisticated English newspapers and 9 PM debates might give the opposition a lecture on democracy, but they can learn from the Deputy Chairman about how it is actually practiced.
The frustration of the opposition is not because rules are not being followed but due to the fact that BJP can now pass any bill in the Rajya Sabha. The total strength of the house is 243 as 2 seats are vacant. However, a large number of MPs are not attending the house due to age related factors and Covid issues.
From the government’s side, there are 13 MPs who are attending the parliament while from the opposition side, 20 are absent- as per the RS secretariat website. Therefore, the total number of the house is 210 and the government needs a vote of 106 MPs to pass the bill.
Now, BJP alone has 86 members in the house and YSRCP with 6 MPs, JD(U) with 5 MPs standing strongly behind the government on the farm bill issue, which takes the total number to 97. With the help of 12 nominated members- who always vote for the government- the government could easily pass the bills.
Till now, the opposition used to stall the bills (sent to Department related parliamentary committee, select committee, or Joint parliamentary committee which means delay of 3 to 6 months because committees take this much time to prepare a report) or vote them out (as with land bill during first Lok Sabha), but in the current situation, the last weapon of the opposition is broken. And now, they are showing frustration by physically harassing the Deputy Chairman, breaking the microphones and tearing the rule book.
