Deve Gowda writes to Sonia Gandhi over ‘chaos’ in Parliament

Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader H.D. Deve Gowda has written to Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, expressing concern over “chaos” in and around Parliament, and raising questions on the conduct of the Leader of the Opposition in leading protests that have disrupted proceedings during the ongoing Budget Session.

In a letter dated March 16, Mr. Deve Gowda said he had been “greatly disturbed by a certain chaos that has been unthinkingly introduced inside Parliament and in its larger premises, primarily by the Opposition parties.”

Recalling his long political career, Mr. Deve Gowda said he had spent nearly 65 years as a legislator and parliamentarian, nearly 90% of which was on the Opposition benches. “You, yourself, have spent long years in the Opposition, and while there, you have conducted yourself with grace and maturity. Since this may well turn out to be the last parliamentary session of my life, I feel compelled to say a few things with the hope that it will lead to the gradual restoration of parliamentary traditions and decorum,” the former Prime Minister said.

“I strongly feel that Congress parliamentarians, led by the Leader of Opposition (LoP), have provoked far too many disruptions inside Parliament and in its premises,” he said, referring to slogan-shouting, placards and protests both inside and outside the Houses and without naming the Opposition leader.

The veteran leader said such actions had created an “attitude of non-seriousness” that had “assaulted my very idea and construct of Parliament and parliamentary democracy”.

“In my long exposure, I have never witnessed Parliament in such chaos and casualness that we have seen recently,” Mr. Deve Gowda wrote, adding that even under “extreme provocation”, he had never entered the Well of the House either in the State legislature or in Parliament to protest.

Acknowledging that the role of the Opposition was to highlight the shortcomings of the government, Mr. Deve Gowda said this must be done through “well-established and time-tested methods”.

“Even when they protested, they did not block the entrance to Parliament, make their gathering look like a tea-shop assembly, and worse, order tea, biscuits and pakodas sitting on the steps of Parliament,” he wrote.

“The Opposition must protest as much as it wants, but that protest has to be framed in a way that does not dismantle what we have built together in over 75 glorious years,” Mr. Deve Gowda added, urging Ms. Gandhi to intervene.