Live entertainment for two days…our elected representatives in action. It was farcical at one level and at another, it showed how intellectually limited the members are since they were unable to address the issues raised by the leader of the opposition, all of which were critical to the future direction of this country. Was the ruling party not expecting serious questioning? Were they ill-briefed about Sonia Gandhi?s intention? Why did our deputy Prime Minister get so rattled with her opening speech? And finally, why did he descend to the level of a personal attack laced with unwarranted sarcasm?
It was truly depressing to hear the taunts against a fellow woman Parliamentarian and colleague ? it was unbecoming, ungracious and without dignity. For a senior leader to set such a tone in Parliament made one feel queasy. Substance please, not personal jibes.
This assault will most definitely have a backlash. It comes across as lightweight hysteria and reveals a sense of insecurity. When our representatives indulge in this kind of rhetoric, I wonder if they have mothers, wives and sisters? Would they want their own to be put through similar abuse? When top Parliamentarians speak this language, the back benchers are bound to follow. Fortunately, the Congress stuck to issues and did not drag any personal jibes into the public domain. There is much they could have raked up but thank the Lord for small mercies.
Our leadership carries baggage of all kinds. The time has come for a new ethic in public life. If only the opposition would get up and proclaim loudly that harping on past deeds and events only stalls change. It is imperative to set fresh standards. Call for the youth, the new generation voter, to back a party that believes in the way forward by discarding class and caste-based politics. There will be a huge response. Break loose from the present politics of the subcontinent. A new generation public figure, a Priyanka Gandhi for example, could lead the new constituents with an energetic language and ideology. Look to the future, to change and growth, and drop the horrors that have put us back decades.
In the final hours of the ?debate?, the Prime Minister appeared tired and irritated. This business of ?we should come together on international positions? carries no weight. In a democracy, if you believe something is not right, you should be able to voice it. That is the game of checks and balances. To demand that all should agree and be in sync is a strange kind of archaic nationalism.
When Sonia Gandhi began her final statement in English, there was relief in the treasury benches, or so it seemed as one watched the scene on television. When she suddenly broke into Hindi and virtually addressed the Hindi-speaking belt, albeit not the nation, saying it was her right to ask the questions she had, their expressions changed. She was clear and forthright and very impressive.
Hindi, let us not forget, is the language of part of India, not the whole. To make cracks about Parliamentarians who do not speak the language is childish to say the least. The entire South does not want Hindi thrust down their throats. They have great languages of their own. Why on earth should they communicate in Hindi? Even the Army uses Roman script, not devanagari, to bind all the many peoples within its ranks. Think of the countries of Europe being compelled to give up their languages for one language!
Sonia Gandhi is clearly on the offensive. She has stepped out into the arena and speculation about her will soon begin to fade. Her opposition seems to have a one-point agenda against her. That ?agenda? has been played out for far too long. Hackneyed and boring. Maybe India is sick of hearing it and wants to get on. What then will be the BJP/NDA point of attack? Will they hark back to The Emergency of 1975?
It?s time they got real ? the bulk of the voters this time were just about toddlers in 1975. They couldn?t care less. They want a future. They want freedom of thought. They want liberal and competitive spaces. They do not want old, tired men and women telling them what to do and what they cannot do. Their idiom is different.