The winter session of the Parliament will be remembered for a very long time, albeit for the wrong reasons. The session which was scheduled from December 4 to 21, 2023 was very crucial considering some very crucial bills were to be tabled for discussion, unfortunately, the bills were passed but without any discussion or debate in the Parliament.
Let’s understand the sequence of events, a major breach of security occurred on December 13, 2023, when two youth (Sagar Sharma and D Manoranjan) entered the Lok Sabha on visitors pass and opened coloured gas canisters with all the VVIPs inside the house, though the gas was harmless and the attackers were overpowered and arrested, it could have been a major disaster had this gas been poisonous, definitely a major security breach in the new Parliament building.
The media was in a dilemma as the MP who invited these two people was from the BJP and also the names of the duo do not resemble those of the community the media is in love with. These two youth later said they wanted to protest against the rising unemployment in the country. (Hope the ruling party is listening).
The irony is that the MP, who bought these two visitors, faces no repercussions.
Naturally, the Opposition demanded a statement from the Home Minister in the Parliament but the Home Minister refused to make any statements in the Parliament.
The honourable Prime Minister and the Home Minister have said outside the Parliament that this was a serious breach of security but denied giving any statements in the House. The demand for the statement grew and unfortunately 146 MPs belonging to both the Houses were suspended in a few days for causing disturbances in both the Houses.
All the suspended MPs protested outside the Parliament and in the heat of the moment an MP mimicked the Vice President and this mimicking was recorded by Rahul Gandhi, this was what the entire ruling party and the media was waiting for as they got their fodder now. The honourable PM and the other ministers and the entire media had now started speaking about how the Opposition has insulted the VP and insulted the nation and the suspension of the MPs took a back seat.
A couple of years ago, the Honourable Prime Minister then was called by a nickname, “Maun Maun Singh” as he did not speak much, also we remember the ruling party today may have behaved unruly and rowdy then, when they were in the Opposition a couple of years ago but they were never suspended by the ruling party then.
The media had now many questions to ask Rahul Gandhi, as to why was he making the video? Why was he smiling while recording? Why did he not walk away? But no questions asked to the ruling party as to why 146 MPs were suspended? No discussion on the questions raised by the two youth who attacked the Parliament? (Though their action was wrong and cannot be justified)
A very important point here would be that every time the government is in the dock, a distraction is created, the entire ruling and the media will pounce on the created opportunity and the main issue will take a back seat.
Let’s hope and pray that this New Year we actually see the Amrit Kaal we were told about, where questions will be answered and no narratives being built.
