Speaker highlights need for positive Parliament debates
Parliamentarians need to engage in meaningful and positive debates, fulfil the dreams and aspirations of the people and make India a developed nation, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla urged on Tuesday.
“People of the country are looking towards us with new hopes as we move forward on this dream, and we should help realise their aspirations and fulfil their expectations,” he said in the Central Hall at an event to commemorate the rich legacy of Parliament. There should be meaningful and positive discussions so that Parliament can play a significant role in making the country more capable and prosperous, the speaker said.
In the 75 years of parliamentary democracy, there have been several revolutionary changes, he said, and now people of the country are aspiring for a new India. “People’s hopes and aspirations from Parliament have grown,” he said, adding that it should be the resolve of parliamentarians to fulfil these aspirations through collective discussion and dialogue.
“In such a situation, it is our responsibility to realise their hopes, expectations and aspirations,” Birla said. “Today, as we move to the new building, this is the occasion to reaffirm our commitment towards making the country a developed nation.”
As the world’s largest parliamentary democracy, “the responsibility of the MPs has increased and that is why it is important that our Parliament discusses all issues, makes laws through collective and meaningful discussions and plays an important role in making the country more capable and prosperous to fulfil the dream of a developed nation”, Birla said.
The Central Hall has been witness to several historic decisions relating to India’s freedom and framing of the Constitution, he said.
It was time to put to rest the strategy of “weaponising” disturbances and disruptions in parliamentary functioning as these are antithetical to democratic values, Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said on the occasion. It was time to give up the justification of transgression of conduct and outrageous disregard of rules in the temples of democracy, the vice-president said, referring to past instances.
“As we march into the new Parliament building, we must enhance cooperation and a consensual approach,” Dhankar said. “(It is) time for us to bid farewell to confrontational stance and resolve to ever keep national interest uppermost.” The vice-president also called for making the new chambers of Parliament “our temple of democracy in togetherness”.
