Parliament fracas a threat to federal structure: MPs

March 15, 2007 on 1:27 pm | In News - English |

MPs cutting across party lines have squarely criticised a scuffle between the leaders of two ruling allies in parliament, saying they should have acted in a more dignified manner.

From correspondents in Delhi, India, 14 Mar 2007 - (www.indiaenews.com)

MPs cutting across party lines have squarely criticised a scuffle between the leaders of two ruling allies in parliament, saying they should have acted in a more dignified manner.

While the incident in the Lok Sabha Tuesday has embarrassed most members, one opposition MP has even called it a threat to the country’s federal structure.

‘If we were attacked by external forces Dec 13 (2001), it was under attack from within on March 13. It was an attack on the very basic federalism of India,’ said Biju Janata Dal MP Tathagata Satpathy.

MPs belonging to the Left parties and DMK stunned the Lok Sabha Tuesday when they came to blows over the location of a maritime university. Marshals were called in as the members pushed and pulled each other when Surface Transport Minister T.R. Baalu of the DMK stood up to introduce a bill to set it up in Chennai.

‘It was not a mere fight between the two parties. It was an engineered fight between two states and it poses a grave danger to our federalism,’ Satpathy said.

Left parties have apologised for the incident.

‘We regret what happened in the house yesterday. It was unfortunate and we said sorry,’ Communist Party of India’s (CPI) Ajoy Chakroborty said.

Madhu Goud Yaskhi, an MP of the ruling Congress from Nizamabad, felt that in the recent past there has been a trend of ministers in national coalitions behaving like regional parties.

‘Centre ministers are supposed to be taking care of national interests. They cannot behave like regional parties. Each minister should be able to take care of national interests,’ Yaskhi said.

Samajwadi Party MP Salim Sherwani said: ‘Every MP has the right to raise the issues he wants. But he should do it in a dignified manner.’

Criticising the incident, opposition leaders pointed out that this was the first time that members belonging to the ruling alliance had indulged in a physical fight over a bill, which should have been brought to the house after evolving a consensus.

Sherwani said the incident revealed how ‘fragile’ the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition was. ‘I am not saying that the incident would bring down the government. But it reflects how fragile the coalition is.’

Yaskhi and Sherwani also expressed concerned about the public perception of MPs.

‘The MPs’ attendance on normal days is only 30-50 percent and on top of that, they end up fighting for everything. It reduces the credibility of parliamentary procedures,’ Yaskhi said.

Although Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani declared that there was a ‘civil war’ in the UPA, his alliance partner and former minister Sharad Yadav felt such an incident was ‘normal’ in coalition politics.

‘It is a vast country. Each one has his or her own sensitivities. It is bound to happen in parliament politics,’ Yadav said.

A minister said: ‘We should forget what happened in the past and move on. This kind of confusion is quite natural although physical altercation should have been avoided.’

(Staff Writer, © IANS)