'I won't shirk responsibility'

NEW DELHI: Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, whose stewardship of the Lok Sabha has been full of controversies, has no intention to “run away” from the responsibility despite threats from the BJP, that it would move a no-confidence motion against him in the coming Monsoon session.

Mr Chatterjee, who completed two years in office on Sunday, laments attempts at the denigration of high institutions, including the Speaker’s Office, but has “mixed feelings” about his tenure so far and regrets that he has not been able to earn the goodwill of all members of the House.

“At one time, I had thought of quitting. But now I have decided not to run away from my responsibility and I shall continue my humble endeavour,” he said. Hurt by epithets like ‘Hitler’ and ‘dictator’ used by Opposition members on the last day of the Budget session, Mr Chatterjee, however, sent conciliatory signals to his detractors saying he had never suggested that he was infallible.

“I have never said or dreamt of being a person who cannot commit mistakes. I will try to rectify if it is due to my own undoing. But that doesn’t mean that the institution should be destroyed,” he said.

The Speaker continues to be miffed over the way the Election Commission brought his office “under great cloud” on the office of profit issue. He feels that media was not playing its role, and says that its criticism needed to be constructive so as to ensure that it “does not destroy the basic fundamental structure of democracy.

“Records show that I have given more opportunities to the Opposition,” he said. May it be adjournment motions, may it be calling attention or any such parliamentary instrument,” he said.

Mr Chatterjee also recalls that when he was elected as the presiding officer he had observed that he has “natural leanings towards the Left”. The Opposition sits on the left side of the Speaker. “Records show that I have given more opportunities to the Opposition...May it be adjournment motions, may it be calling attention or any such parliamentary instrument,” he said.

The Speaker’s appeal to all political parties was that if they have grievances, these should be ventilated in Parliament in a “different manner” than that done on the streets. He also condemned the recent clash in Tamil Nadu assembly between MLAs of rival sides.

Besides, Chatterjee feels that right-thinking sections of the people and the civil society should come forward to see to it that institutions of democracy are not denigrated.

Narrating the ‘shock’ he got while interacting with a group of girl students doing their 12th standard, he said the leader of the group, when asked by him what she wanted to become, responded “anything other than a politician”.

“You may laugh at the comment, but it reflects the intensity of the feelings against politicians. Politics is treated as an occupation of crooks”, the Speaker said, adding that it was also a worrisome sign that people are “not surprised” by the disturbances in Parliament.

Referring to the “cynicism” among the people regarding politicians, he said that is why there was “not much of resistance by the people because they may feel that politicians deserve it”.

Chatterjee said that he gave permission to Opposition even to raise adjournment motions despite reservations from the Treasury Benches as the “job of the Speaker was not to save the government. It is for them to maintain their numbers in the House”.

He says the grievances against him included that he gives “too much opportunity” to Opposition leaders. Chatterjee, who had only recently accused the Election Commission of subjecting him to “trial by insinuation”, says that he was going through an agonising situation and feels that some more concern should have been shown by the poll panel in the office of profit case.

“I feel I have been unjustly treated by the constitutional authority. It was probably done in a mechanical and casual manner”, he says but insists that he was not imputing any motive to the EC which was doing a “great job” everywhere in conducting election, including in Bihar and West Bengal.

“Now, no one can point a finger that the elections have not been conducted properly,” he says. The Speaker feels that he has come under unnecessary attack in the matter involving admonition of former Secretary General Subhash C Kashyap saying that he had “nothing to do” with what the Privileges Committee decided on the issue.

“What do I gain if someone is admonished or not? My position does not change due to the admonition. I know him (Kashyap) very well. It was neither organised or arranged by me. I challenge anyone if he says so”.

Chatterjee says that he has done everything possible, even bent rules, to accommodate the Opposition. He says there was no question of his applying “harsh disciplinary measures” to ensure order in the House. “This is farthest from my mind”.

He recalls that during the tenure of GMC Balayogi as the Speaker, it was unanimously decided to suspend a member who comes to the well of the House.

The Speaker says that now his dream was “to bring Parliament nearer to the people so that they have faith in the system. Their faith only strengthens the democratic polity”.

He said for this purpose, a Lok Sabha TV channel has been launched, which will soon be turned into a round-the-clock channel. The channel had become “very popular” and was in fact “an extension of the Visitors’ Gallery of the House in every home”, he said.