It is more than a week since Ramesh Bidhuri, a BJP member of the Lok Saba abused a fellow parliamentarian Danish Ali from the Bahujan Samaj Party, BSP, on the floor of the Parliament, in the choicest of expletives.
Ignoring demands by the opposition for action against the offender. The foul-mouthed MP from South Delhi was rewarded with the office of district–in–charge for Rajasthan’s Tonk elections.
The August House his party leader and the Prime Minister of Bharat Narendra Modi called the “Temple of Democracy” at the inaugural of the newly built parliament building a few weeks back has been polluted by the filthy language used.
The vocabulary employed by Bidhuri, elected to the Lok Sabha from South Delhi, is far over the Billingsgate bar, fitting like a glove with a “gutter gate”. And rightly so, Lutyens and Westminster are no more. The raw vulgarity of words resonates with the culture engineered by the BJP over the past two decades to reach the prevailing, dubbed “Turbulence” by Foreign Minister Jaishankar, of a democratic society, awaiting correction. Till such a time, one would have to share the disgust taken so lightly by Bhaduri’s colleague
There was a time in the good old days when one regaled and enjoyed the banter, spirited exchanges, and the rich repertoire of parliamentarians during debates even on serious issues. The hallowed house had a good share of erudite members with sharp wits.
Serious concerns like the Aksai Chin debate were peppered with enjoyable humour and banter. When Prime Minister Nehru tried to tell the house that land lost in a border dispute with China was bare where “not a single blade of grass grows.” Mahavir Tyagi his defence minister once, shot back, drawing his palm over his bald pate, and said, “nothing grows here, should it be given away? ”
Ram Manhor Lohia (SSP) a Ph.D. from Germany, and a freedom fighter, championing the eradication of the caste system, preferred Hindi over English. Called Indira Gandhi a “Gungi Gudiya Rani,” dumb queen doll, on her becoming the Prime Minister in 1966. In another debate Lohia pleading for the dictator Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana to be given asylum in India on grounds of her marriage to an Indian was mocked by the charming and eloquent Tara Keshwari Sinha, known for her rich repertoire of Urdu couplets who questioned Lohia, a bachelor, how he could talk about conjugal sentiments having no experience. Lohia hit back, “Tara you never gave me the chance”. T. Krishnamachari of the congress once called his party mate Feroze Gandhi, Nehru’s lapdog. Since Krishnamachari considered himself a pillar of the nation, Feroze retorted, “ I would do to you what dogs usually do at pillars.” The sharp and witty exchanges between Piloo Mody of the Swatantra Party and J.C. Jain of the congress were a pleasure to know about. Jain would never tire of pulling Mody’s legs, teasing him repeatedly. Once an exasperated Mody yelled at him, “stop barking”. Jain was up on his feet complaining hoarsely to the chair, “sir, he called me a dog, it is unparliamentary.” When assured that it would not be put on record by the chair, Mody jutted in, “then stop braying”, Jain unaware of what braying was, let it go. Once Mody showed his back to the chair and he was reprimanded. The sharped wit Parliamentarian politely drew the speaker’s attention to his circumferential dimensions, sir, I have neither a back nor a front I am round.
Such were the merry and cheerful proceedings of the parliament in the days gone by. Bordering on ad hominem, yet taken in a spirited manner, delightfully pleasant and pleasing.
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