MPs should go beyond an hour’s activism in house: Arun Jaitley

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley has said MPs need to contribute substantively towards policy debates during legislation, going beyond “11 o’clock to 12 o’clock activism” during Question Hour and Zero Hour, to become excellent parliamentarians. He said that “pressure of populism” was taking a toll on parliamentarians’ quest for fineness and “good quality humour” in debates was losing out to shrillness.

Jaitley said the ultimate possession of a leader/politician will not be the power one possessed, or the number of times one got elected, but the “credibility” one commanded by exemplary conduct in public life and in Parliament.

He was speaking at a function in New Delhi on Wednesday, where he, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Congress leader Veerappa Moily released a book, ‘Bhartruhari Mahtab, the Outstanding Parliamentarian’, containing a collection of parliamentary speeches by the BJD MP.


He said Mahtab’s biggest achievement has been the credibility he established as an excellent parliamentarian through consistent contributions. Mahajan hailed Mahatab for his “serious contributions” while Moily said the BJD MP always enhanced the quality of debate in the Lok Sabha.