Telangana Bill: Why the big fuss over House decorum?

Let’s not get carried away by the noise and the theatrics over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Of course, the way the Telangana bill was passed in Lok Sabha is unprecedented — it was passed by voice vote with 40 MPs from several parties protesting in the well of the House, and the live telecast of the proceedings switched off. Perhaps it is unconstitutional too. The developments today send out an ugly message about our parliamentary democracy when most representatives from the state that is being divided are kept out of the big decision. States should not be formed in this fashion, but let’s face it. The division of Andhra Pradesh was never expected to be a smooth and sweet kiss-and-part affair. The developments over the last few weeks had thrown enough indication that there would be vociferous even violent opposition to the bill from the lawmakers from the Seemandhra region. [caption id=“attachment_1396869” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] With the issue reduced to the ‘for Telangana-against Telangana’ binary, the processes of dialogue, debate and parliamentary processes were already out of the way. In any case, after experiencing how Parliament works over the last few years, there is no point complaining much about decorum and decency. A decision had to be taken this way or that. A parliamentary nod against the formation of Telangana would have evoked similar passionate reaction. We have seen all this earlier. Just because leaders from Seemandhra are more visible and seemingly angrier at this point, it should not distract us from the original question. The Congress won’t make itself popular in Andhra Pradesh with the way it managed the proceedings in Lok Sabha, but let’s put it frankly: was there any other way? Let’s not forget that all the political players from Andhra Pradesh who have now become the voice of opposition against the bifurcation have been party to the Central government’s decision to bifurcate the state. The deliberation on the creation of the new state has been a long-drawn process and neither the Telugu Desam Party nor Jagan Reddy’s YSR Congress can claim to be ignorant of the developments. Had they been serious, they could have started a reconciliation process at home, coaxing the champions of the Telangana state to maintain status quo in the state. All these days, the protests from this section has been about stopping the bifurcation, not about treating pro-Telangana demand with sympathy. Coming back to respect for parliamentary procedures, let’s check the reactions today: “It is a black day in the history of the country… A bill was introduced in the House without anybody to say Yes or No. The bill was introduced undemocratically. It was done against the will of the people of Andhra Pradesh…democracy was killed in broad daylight,” said Jagan Reddy, YSR Congress chief. “It is daylight murder of democracy. The Speaker is acting as an agent of the Congress. More than half the house is at the Well. They should have suspended the entire house and passed the bill,” said a TDP lawmaker. Do the comments reflect their conduct in the House over the last few days? Which of the parties was willing to have a sober debate in the House? Was lawmaker L Rajagopal respecting Parliament when he used pepper spray on fellow members? Was the TDP member who broke the mike in the House to make his point the other day being mindful of decorum? Of course not. So let’s not make a big fuss about how the Telangana bill was passed.