NEW DELHI: Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on Saturday criticised MPs for frequent disruption of proceedings in the Rajya Sabha and voiced concerns over the reduced duration of Parliament sessions.
The disruptions amount to “impinging on the privileges of the other members”, Ansari said addressing an orientation programme for newly-elected and nominated Rajya Sabha members. Noting that disagreement can be conveyed by staging brief walkouts, the Vice-President said disruptions and storming the Well of the House to protest were creating a bad impression among people.
“If you yourself move out of the circle of what is parliamentary or unparliamentary, then the general public is also free to do the same. Coming into the Well is holding the House to ransom for an interest of an individual or a group... the impression is that MPs don’t work and only make noise. I don’t think it is in our interest,” the Vice-President said.
Ansari said good time management was key to the effective running of Parliament and added that MPs should be brief during Question Hour.
“In music, alaap is a great thing, but in Parliament, it is nothing short of a disaster. The member has to ask his or her question. If the member decides to make a speech before the question, (then) the time for answering the question is abridged,” he said. Ansari said the three minutes allotted during Zero Hour was sufficient for MPs to raise their issues and added it was rapid in Parliaments of many other countries. Earlier, President Pranab Mukherjee had also raised concerns over the repeated disruptions and had called it an “unhealthy practice”.
Ansari said he had also raised the issue of reduced durations of Parliament sessions with successive Prime Ministers. “Earlier, Parliament used to sit for 100-110 days. There was sufficient time, both for discussion and debate and all other activities. Now the average is around 70 days. Hence, there is a much greater requirement for time management,” he said.