Singh, BJP spar over definition of democracy

Sharply criticising the principle opposition party, which did not allow Parliament to function post tabling of the Comptroller and Auditor General [CAG] report on coal block allocation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday that disruption of the house by the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] amounted to 'negation of democracy'.

Striking an aggressive note, with the monsoon session being washed out amidst ruckus created over the coal scam, Singh hit out at the BJP, saying, 'We have just ended a wasted session of Parliament when both houses were not allowed to function.' Singh asserted that instead of the CAG report being discussed in the Public Accounts Committee [PAC], which is the normal procedure, or even in Parliament, which his government offered to do, leaders of the opposition demanded his resignation.

Singh said that the current circumstances could be encapsulated as 'a mockery of parliamentary democracy'. He went on to say, 'The government and the opposition both have a sacred obligation to strengthen our parliamentary system. We do incalculable damage to the reputation of India’s Parliament if we resort to disruption of Parliament to make a political point. '

He felt that this was 'the road to a dysfunctional politics which will only produce agitational politics and a deeply divided and disenchanted country'. Slamming the BJP, he said, 'Those who prevent Parliament from functioning disable the voice of the people. They take away their right to hear their representatives debate issues in a reasoned manner when the case for and against a point of view can be heard. They force them to listen instead only to voices in the street, which is not the place for reasoned discourse.'

Singh had earlier rejected the CAG report, calling it 'flawed'. On Friday on a similar note, he said, 'We do not strengthen the CAG as an institution by using its reports to prevent discussion and cause disruption.... Issues raised in the CAG report are not being swept under the carpet. They will be discussed in Parliament as they should be. Whatever corrective action is necessary will be taken.' 

Emphasising on the 'wasted session', Singh hoped in the next session, Parliament would 'get back to business'.

The BJP, however, hit back at the prime minister, saying that when he was the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, he had stalled Parliament over the Tehelka scam and the Babri Masjid issue. 'Even over the coffin scam, they stalled Parliament and called us coffin thieves,' said the BJP leader Sushma Swaraj. The leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley attacked the government, saying that this regime is committed to 'kleptocracy'. 'It is unfortunate that corruption and cancellation of coal blocks is not even the priority of the prime minister,' Jaitley said.