'Party is aware of my view that we should not disrupt, but use Parliament for debate'

New Delhi: On a day when the stormy Winter Session of Parliament came to an end, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday said to some degree, the opposition is "complicit in its own marginalisation" as by going in for disruptions, it is unable to voice its positions, but asserted that it was often left frustrated for not being allowed to raise issues.

He said his party is aware of his view that "we should not disrupt" but use parliament as a platform for debate, and do rallies and agitations elsewhere.

Asked about the repeated disruptions in parliament and the space for opposition allegedly shrinking, Tharoor said, "To some degree, we are complicit in our own marginalisation, by going in for disruptions, we no longer have a choice to voice our positions for the nation to understand."

"But I recognise that mine is a minority view. I have not hidden my view and the party is very aware of my view that we should not disrupt, that we should use parliament as a platform for debate, and do our rallies, dharnas and agitations elsewhere and on the streets," he said.

There should be a clear distinction as it used to be earlier, but for some time now our politics has become so polarised that this is now manifesting itself in the parliamentary culture as well, he said.

Citing the example of former prime minister Manmohan Singh for reaching out to the opposition, Tharoor said that is not happening anymore and even the parliamentary affairs minister "very rarely reaches out to the opposition members".

"I think it is bad for our democracy," he added.

Tharoor said he would like to see more days of sittings in parliament as well as reforms in procedures of parliament.