The contentious and sensitive Telengana Bill which was expected to be debated in the parliament has been passed by voice votes – ignoring several demands of various MPs for division on the bill – amid utter chaos, unseemly controversy and unprecedented telecasting blackout.
The future and fate of Telugu people – either by carving Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh or keeping the state united – have been decided not by debating the concerns raised by the Andhra MPs but by suspending and keeping the MPs away from taking any part whatsoever in the proceedings. The highhanded manner in which the Congress-led UPA government has bulldozed the 
bill in Lok Sabha and hoodwinked the people of AP and the country will surely go down in the history of democracy and Indian Parliaement as one of the darkest, shameful and controversial events.
The Speaker of the Lok Sabha stopped the live telecast of the proceedings of Loksabha before the Lok Sabha voted on the controversial bill. Not only are all the TV cameras reported to have been switched off but the members are also reported to have been barred from taking photos with their mobiles; the Visitors Gallery was also shut down while the debate – or the pretense of a debate – was going on. This move is not only unprecedented but undemocratic and raises several serious suspicions over the issue. The speaker, however, claims that there was a technical problem with TV broadcast; Sushma Swaraj from BJP says that she was not aware of any broadcasting blackout; but some MP’s walked out precisely over the same issue; the truth stands buried in the closed chambers of the House.
TMC and JD (U) staged a walkout in protest against the government’ handling of the bill. Perhaps it can rightly be said that they have thoughtlessly abdicated their share of the responsibility to ensure that the bill was proceeded with in a proper way. The BJP which has been mouthing pious platitudes and shallow homilies about the need for a proper and exhaustive debate over the bill seems to have forgotten all about it and failed to carry out the feeble and token protest that the much smaller parties – TMC and JD(U) – have carried out; nor did they, with their continued presence in Loksabha do anything to ensure that a debate – even a token debate – was carried out. That the Bill and the various amendments – some 70 or so of them – were either adopted or rejected in just about 80 minutes – which must have felt like 30 aeons to Congress which has been displaying unholy, unhealthy haste in getting the T-Bill passed by hook or by crook speaks volumes for how casually the Bill has been dealt with and how casually the future of Telugu people – people from Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra has been decided.
“I have never witnessed such a scene. It’s beyond my ‘bardash’ (tolerance). I couldn’t sit and decided to walk out. We decided that we cannot be part of such a division,” JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav said.
“I am more sad then angry. Today democracy has come to a standstill. Point is people of this country – 1.2 billion people – have a right to listen to the discussion. Spirit of democracy has been killed. Speaker is the custodian of democracy,” said, Dinesh Trivedi of Trinamool Congress, speaking about the blackout of the telecast of the proceedings of the House.
Congress, on the other hand, called the day ‘historic’. Perhaps it is – but not in any positive or heartening sense.
“The passing of Telangana Bill is a historic event and everyone should now accept that,” said External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. (It makes as much sense as “I have slapped you now and you should learn to live with that!”)
YSR Congress chief Jagan Reddy lashed out at government said today democracy was killed by Congress. He has called for a bandh in Andhra Pradesh tomorrow; perhaps the resignation of the MP’s and MLA’s from his party would have been a better response.
“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 YSR Congress Chief Jagan Mohan Reddy. That, sadly, is all the fire he has displayed.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy who has been consistently opposing the bifurcation of the state is believed to be getting set to resign tomorrow morning after briefing the press. Some of the MLAs are also expected to resign along with him. Some of those who have been humming the “Samaikyandhra” tune along with him have however made it clear that they would stick to the party – some vowing that they would remain in Congress till their last breath. One need not be surprised if Kiran Kumar Reddy ends up as a loner. This is a land where disloyal followers have been fairly common right from ancient times, after all.
Everything seems unclear. Government claims that the bill was passed unanimously with the support of BJP, but BJP has not confirmed the unanimity part of the claim. One thing does seem certain; BJP acquiesced – overtly or covertly – in the machinations and manipulative tactics of the UPA government today and BJP can never disown its role in the sorry muck that has taken place behind a soiled veneer of democracy, constitution and the laws while the government has been claiming to have been sticking to the letter of the law (however doubtful the claim may be) but fragrantly violating the spirit of the law. The BJP is as guilty of it all as the UPA government; so is practically every other political party.
Today’s handling of the T-Bill in parliament is going to prove to be the beginning of the ultimate fall of Indian political system in a future which is not very far from today. This is what happens when lowly politicians rather than lofty statesmen rule a country.
Tags: Andhra Pradesh india Lok Sabha T Bill T Bill passed Telengana Telengana bill Telengana Bill passed
