Headlines
'Murder of democracy' and then a shutdown in Kerala
By
Sanu GeorgeWhile the rival fronts in the Kerala assembly have claimed 'victory'
over what happened on Saturday on the floor of the house, the real
looser has been democracy. If that was not enough, the Left opposition
called a state- wide shut down on Saturday to protest against its
legislators being manhandled.
Unlike in yesteryears, when
followers of democracy had to wait till the next day to read from the
newspapers about what happened in the state, times have changed and the
entire event was brought live to their drawing rooms by nearly a dozen
TV channels, leaving many asking: Is this what is expected from our
elected representatives.
The ugly bedlam in the most hallowed
place of democracy - the assembly - was telecast live by the national TV
channels, forcing the chief justice of India to ask a Keralite lawyer
in the midst of a case: "What's happening in your state?"
What
happened yesterday was the followup to what the Left opposition, led by
91-year- old veteran communist V.S. Achuthanandan had earlier announced
that in no way would it allow "tainted" Finance Minister K.M. Mani to
present the budget as he had been named an accused in a bribery case.
Equally
determined was the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front's stance
that even though the case was being probed and with a few petitions
seeking intervention of the Lok Ayukta and the Kerala High Court to ask
Mani to quit being dismissed, its contention was until the trial is over
and the verdict announced, no one becomes an accused.
The Left
opposition did its best to prevent Mani and in the melee, it turned its
ire towards the new speaker, N. Sakthan, elected less than 24 hours
before, when he tried to enter his podium in the assembly. The Left
legislators barged into the dais and threw out the speaker's chair and
then turned towards his table and in a flash his computer, keyboard,
mike and other electronic equipment was seen taking the aerial route.
It's
rare that such a situation has happened in any state assembly. While
the ruckus was going on, Sakthan was seen gesticulating to Mani to begin
presenting the budget. After reading for a few minutes, Mani laid the
budget papers on the table. It was his record 13th budget.
While
Mani was in the process of reading, the Left legislators on one side and
the security guards and a section of treasury bench on the other were
engaging in pushing and pulling, forget about the abuses that were
hurled. A woman legislator from the Left lost her cool and bit a
Congress legislator.
Later, after things cooled down, there were
a series of press conferences by the rival fronts, each claiming the
other was wrong and they were right.
And, if these ugly
incidents were not enough, the Left announced that to protest the
manhandling of about 20 of their legislators by the security staff and
the treasury bench legislators, a state-wide shutdown will be observed
on Saturday.
At night, the rival fronts met Kerala Governor P. Sathasivam and gave their version of what happened.
With
daggers drawn, all eyes are on how the remainder of the assembly
session will go. Indications are that it will certainly not be easy
going as tempers are running high.
(Sanu George can be contacted at [email protected])