The Hindu Business Line : Has the evolution clock stopped ticking?

"UPROARIOUS scenes in Lok Sabha". Thus reads the headline of a news report that goes on to state that "the Opposition parties held up the proceedings" and plunged the House into "utter confusion" in another "unsuccessful bid".

It continues: "The Indian Parliament had, no doubt, become quite accustomed over the years to such uproarious scenes, as part of the rough and tumble of party politics, but it seldom witnessed the kind of wild disorder as today." The parties were "vociferous" and there was "a strident display of their resentment".

In the "topsy-turvy political state" the House has been "going through such agonising ordeals almost daily during this session", with threats "of dharna to hold up essential legislation in an all-out protest against the Government's unresponsive attitude to the persistent Opposition demand".

The Lok Sabha faced "the full fury of political passions when the irate Opposition spokesmen clashed with the indignant members of the ruling party with a distressing demonstration of their ruffled tempers to the great dismay of the Speaker who was taken aback by the appalling scene."

The `exasperated' Speaker who had been handling "such unmanageable situations with exemplary patience was clearly at the end of his tether today."

He was "constrained to observe, as bluntly as he could, that he was not going to put up with these obstructive tactics" which were making a "laughing stock of Parliament".

And more: "The outspoken observations of the Speaker had a salutary effect on the militant members on either side who at one time clashed with such ferocity bandying shockingly unparliamentary expressions that the Lok Sabha was pitched into total pandemonium."

All that is from a story that G.K. Reddy filed twenty-five years ago, and carried in The Hindu dated August 23, 1978.

Not much has changed, has it? And if Rip Van Winkle woke up after a long sleep, and got a rude shock seeing passers-by busily chatting over their mobiles and new-fangled cars zip by, he might still find a few things unchanged - such as the movie themes and parliamentary behaviour.

SayCheek@hotmail.com

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