Time to panic when 'House scuffle' is treated as routine

NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha worked approximately 22 per cent of the time allotted to it this monsoon session, which saw an unseemly scuffle between two members of Parliament, Naresh Agarwal of the Samajwadi Party and Avatar Singh Karimpuri of the Bahujan Samaj Party.

The scuffle came as the government introduced a Constitution Amendment (117th) Bill to ensure quotas in promotions for SC/ST government employees.

As minister of state for personnel, V Narayanswamy, stood to introduce the bill, Agarwal walked towards him as if to physically prevent the minister from doing so. He was stopped in his tracks by Karimpuri.


The incident raised a hue and cry about falling standards, but died after a few outraged comments and angry editorials. The shocking part of the episode was not that it happened, but that it was treated sanguinely by the political class.

Former Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who in his tenure had to deal with a tumultuous trust vote in 2008, where alleged bribe money was brought to the well of the House by BJP, says that the fall in standards has been inevitable since the 11th and 12th Lok Sabha.

Chatterjee, with a parliamentary career of over four decades, says that coalition politics is what has led to gradual fall in standards of behaviour. "When big parties became insecure about their numbers, smaller parties saw that they could pressure the government of the day. Bigger parties with more centralised discipline gave way on the centre stage of Parliament," he said.

"When I was Speaker I clearly remember business advisory meetings where I would be casually informed that the House would not be allowed to run or that Question Hour would be disrupted. One Opposition member in my time told me that discussion and debate would not get them as much publicity as disrupting the House would, and that I should not take the disruption personally," said Chatterjee.

"I am pained by what has happened in the Rajya Sabha, and increasingly feel that members should be put through a course on how to behave in Parliament before being allowed to enter the place," he added.