CON-gress,Not PRO-gress

CON-gress, not PRO-gress !

There ws a spark of hope when, as I have been hoping  and arguing for for weeks , the PM met with Soniaji and Manmohan Singhji and appeared to have agreed on moving ahead with essential legislative business. Thereafter followed Constitution Day, a couple of days of praises for Dr.Ambedkar and unanimous re-affirmation of  allegiance to the Constitution.

All the above have now turned out to be platitudes and rituals and confirmation that politicians will be politicians! When parliament resumed its normal work last week  the Chennai disaster occupied most of the time in both Houses.

The Home Minister was to reply to the discussion  in Rajya Sabha when, out of the blue, MP Mishra saw Gen VK Singh in the treasury benches and exploded into a tirade against Singh, Mishra demanded  Singh’s immediate ouster from the House citing his disloyalty to the Constitution by his utterance a few weeks ago with some canine connotations. A few others joined him despite the Dy.Chairman, as usual at his  pathetic, humble best, confessing that he had no power to evict Singh who was in the House by constitutional right as a minister. Of course, there was the now customary storming of the well and shouting of slogans. The House was adjourned a couple of tims for fifteen minutes each time which was a pointless exercise.

The House resumed with the LoP, Ghulam Nabi Azad, being allowed to recite his piece in which he recalled the recent re-affirmation.However, after that he also went on to question Gen Singh’s presence in the House and supported Mishra..

The Congress has  threatened to disrupt Rajya Sabha if Gen Singh is not sacked from the Council of Ministers. In fact it has gone beyond that an d undone all that we thought was agreed at the “summit”. Azad has declared that they would not support GST until the government gave Congress a “categorical” assurance on “all legislative matters” So much for all the time spent on the sanctity of the  Constitution ! This is nothing short of blackmail  and the sacrifice of national lnterest.  The Constitution now exists as a plaything to be toyed with at the pleasure of the politicians as parties have consistently  violated its provisions which prescribe procedures covering  all possible situations that might arise in Parliament including the Singh episode. 

I consider this most recent incident as a failure of party leadership. On the one side the members of the ruling party  have committed irresponsible indiscretions and gone unchecked while, on the other, the main opposition, Congress, has continued to use its  obstructive strength as a form of blackmail. They have deliberately ignored that they are themselves defying the Constitution within days of all the lofty speeches made in Parliament which now seem to have been mere sanctimonious utterances. 

It is time that PM Modiji and Congress Prresident  Soniaji came to a durable  agreement that national interests will over-ride narrow party ends and personal egoes.This is a golden opportunity for Soniaji to assert the superiority of her Indian-ness to that of some others in her flock who would rather flaunt their unthinking pursuit of party interests.  The message of the agreement has then to go down the line to every member with the knowledge that breaking this agreement will cost him or her dear.