ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE

A week earlier I had watched the no confidence motion moved in the Parliament. I have previously watched budget sessions of the Parliament but was never greatly interested in their proceedings. This experience was quite different. It actually started in a very tame manner by the Prime Minister ManMohan Singh reading out a prepared speech and starting the motion. What was striking was his absolute lack of speaking skills. The Prime Minister may be a technocrat, he may not have actively campaigned anywhere but that is not a good excuse for a Prime Minister of a billion people. No wonder he doesn’t inspire many. But of course Mr.Singh’s inadequacies are nothing compared to the phenomenal mediocrity of thought and action that I witnessed the next two days.

Mr.Advani as leader of opposition was the next speaker. He was flamboyant as usual talking passionately about how his Left friends had been cheated by the Congress by violating the sacred Common Minimum Programme. However his speech had nothing new to it, was repetitive (what he spoke in the Parliament was exactly similar to the interview he had given to The Hindu a few weeks ago, even the words did not change) and was factually wrong in many places. But he did put his points strongly and was much more convincing than Mr.Singh.
The speakers who followed were not able to speak as the opposition decided that they would not let anyone be heard. There was absolute pandemonium and the Left managed to produce the highest decibel levels. There was this particular M.P. from the Left (I think his name was Ahmed) who occupied maximum floor time (I guess atleast four hours) more than his stipulated 40 minutes by interrupting every speaker on some issue or the other. The Speaker Mr.Chatterjee was greatly annoyed and had to adjourn the House several times.
It was obvious that these people had gathered there not to discuss issues (most of them had already decided who they’d vote for) but to disrupt the Parliament as much as possible and make their voices heard. There was absolutely no respect for the Parliament nor for the Speaker. The Speaker looked like a helpless sheep among a pack of wolves.
Our honourable M.P.s lacked listening skills, basic decency, and where high on rhetoric and low on facts. They had decided right from the beginning to disagree with each other. They were more interested in personal attacks and settling scores rather than have a discussion on the issue. A handful like P.Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee did justice to their posts.
It is a great shame that these are the guys who are representing us on a national and international scale. The Parliament appeared to be a product of anarchy rather than democracy. The icing on the cake was as everyone knows the display of cash in the well of the House by three B.J.P. M.Ps. Along with those who have given bribes these three M.P.s should also be punished for contempt of the Parliament.
This inability to reach a consensus is a problem that has been plaguing India throughout its history. Indians had meekly submitted to the rule of the Mughals and the British exactly because of this problem. We were so busy quarreling with each other and settling petty scores against one another that we missed the big picture and were ultimately subjected to slavery and foreign rule. Our selfish instincts seems to be more stronger than the ability to work together for the greater common good. Our inability to see beyond short term selfish goals has severely handicapped our ability to make long term plans. No wonder we are not only the world’s largest democracy but also the most non-functional.