Letters to The Editor: Din in Parliament

The monsoon session of the Parliament has agonizingly ended in a total washout. The four-week-long session (July 19 to August 13) was called off two days before the schedule owing to bizarre incidents never seen before. The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha constitute the sanctum sanctorum of Parliamentary democracy. But, both the Houses witnessed violent protests by the Congress-led Opposition from day one — and in the process, without transacting listed business. The Rajya Sabha witnessed the most contemptible aggression as some Opposition members snatched papers from the Minister who was reading the statement on the Pegasus spyware issue, tearing it and throwing the torn pieces into the air in the upper House. Two days before the closure of the House session, the Opposition members — continually shouting — enacted ugly scenes by trooping into the well of the House; and, one member mounting on the table threw the rulebook at the Chairman, all of which forced premature adjournment sine die. The Congress and its allies also disrupted daily proceedings of the Lok Sabha by trooping into the well of the House — thereby forcing early sine die adjournment. But amid the din, some Bills however were passed.

It is crystal clear that the Congress and its newfound allies had conspired to disrupt the whole monsoon session as a strategy that could not but malign India's image abroad.

Right from the time, Modiji had taken oath as the Prime Minister in May 2014 after the constitution of the 16th Lok Sabha, the Congress seemed to have taken a rigid stand against him to oppose him every inch and hurled personal attack on him with all sorts of name-calling inside the House and outside. But the popularity of Modiji even soared higher after the 17th Lok Sabha polls as he had returned with a thumping majority. Added to this some of the festering high voltage political issues like the apex Court's Ayodhya verdict in favour of the Hindus, abrogation of Article 370 et al being resolved peacefully had cornered the Opposition to the brink. To divert attention from their impact on the public and popularity in favour of the ruling BJP, the Congress this time garnered the support of a good many MPs of TMC, DMK, SP, RJD, AAP and others, resorted to a dirty trick to disrupt the monsoon session in both the Houses to defame the NDA Government. The BJP led Government will have to treat such matter sensibly and cannot allow unlimited disruption of parliament sessions. The BJP must get back to the Opposition and seek the latter's cooperation for the smooth functioning of Parliament in the coming days. The situation of NDA's first term (2014-19) when legislative businesses and debates were usually held with a success rate of 80-100% will have to be regained to keep the people's faith and interest upbeat in the structure of the Indian democracy.

Pannalal Dey,

Guwahati.

Marks dilemma

It is rather ironical that even after almost everyone scoring rather good marks, it will be quite difficult for many among them to get admission anywhere. This is particularly so especially with the students whose aggregate marks are below 70% or so. The government's also recently announced that 75% seats in the government colleges across Assam will be reserved for SEBA students. However, this announcement has shocked the students of CBSE were already in tension regarding admissions. Even the students who scored an aggregate of marks below 95% will not be able to get admission into a government college. Instead of reserving seats in the sector, the prime focus should have been the entrance process because it is through this mode that only the eligible students secure admissions into various courses of higher education.

Himadri Kalita,

Cotton University.

Nice gesture

The 74th Independence Day celebrations this year was flagged with a distinction. Prime Minister Narendra Modi feted the COVID-19 warriors as well as the Olympic athletes. Such gestures will encourage the young budding sportspersons to strive for excellence. Secondly, PM Modi's announcement that the doors of all Sainik schools will open for girls is historic and praiseworthy.

Manthan Rudra Kashyap,

Boko.

Tapping talents

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) recently declared that August 7 will be declared as 'Javelin Throw Day' in India to honour Neeraj Chopra and his historic win. As on that day, he bagged the gold medal for India in the man's javelin throw at the 2020 Olympics. The Chairman of the AFI planning committee, Lalit Bhanot even said that in a bid to promote sports, competitions will also be conducted on that day.

So, let us celebrate this occasion with enthusiasm, tap talents right from the grassroots, and prepare the route for more golds in the global-level games.

Srishty Kandarpa,

Jagiroad.

The temple of democracy : A battle zone

This is with reference to the article "The temple of democracy : A battle zone" by Col (retd) PM Goswami on your editorial page on August 12. Col Goswami must be applauded for writing such a timely, relevant and thought-provoking article.

He has rightly drawn attention to and elaborated the deplorable state of affairs in the functioning of our Parliament and Legislative Assemblies. Hopefully it will have the required impact and persuade all right thinking and concerned citizens to ponder over the points and issues raised by him. The country is passing through a critical time due to the COVID pandemic which has been further adversely impacted due to many other internal as well as international disturbing events and incidents.

I appeal to the government and the Opposition to jointly chalk out a way to sort out their differences amicably. It is high time some appropriate remedial measures were put in place to ensure that our democratic institutions function in an orderly manner.

Col (retd) Balen Chandra Das,

Guwahati.