A Legislative Assembly is meant for raising various problems afflicting the State it belongs to and its people through proper devices so as to draw the attention of the government for seeking tangible solutions. This is one of the bounden duties of every Assembly, apart from its duty of enacting laws. The Assembly is in no way a place for legislators, both of the ruling and Opposition parties, to show their strength by engaging themselves in some issues that are unworthy of debates. What some legislators belonging to both the Treasury and the Opposition benches in the Assam Assembly are seen, as often as not, is that they forget the very fact that they are members of an august House that has no room for any unparliamentary words. Some of them even do not hesitate to show their strength when the situation goes out of control. The situation has come to such a pass now that the Speaker of the Assam Assembly, in a recent debate during the Question Hour, had to appeal to the members of the House not to use unparliamentary words so as not to lower the dignity Assembly.
An Assembly session is a matter of huge spending that goes from the State exchequer containing the taxpayers’ money. When viewed from the point of money being spent for holding an Assembly session, even a layman will come to the conclusion that each and every moment of the Assembly is very precious when it is in session. Such a realization leaves no space for anyone, let along legislators, to waste the valuable time of the House in some unnecessary and unworthy debates that lead the House nowhere except lowering its dignity.
The government is a continuous process. The views of one government may not go well with that on another. However, such differences should not stonewall public welfare schemes that were taken up by a former government. If the schemes are worthy for public welfare they should be carried on with utmost sincerity. And if they are not good enough, they should be rejected. However, some ministers and ruling party MLAs in Assam, instead of seeking tangible solutions to problems afflicting the State and its people, are seen to waste the valuable time of the august House by criticizing their predecessors for not doing enough to solve those problems. What such legislators fail to understand is: the party or parties forming the previous government were rejected by the voters for not solving problems afflicting the State. Does not the same fate await the present ruling party/parties if it/they continues/continue to waste time in the House instead of solving problems through meaningful debates?
People send their representatives to the Assembly for raising their problems on the floor of the House so that the problems draw the attention of the government. It is the government that has to solve the problems. However, some MLAs, regardless of their party affiliation, waste more time in meaningless debates instead of engaging themselves in serious and meaningful debate for solving problems. If they continue this, how can they portray the problems of the people they represent? Is it not a trickery on the part of some legislators to the people they represent?
Legislators, be them of the ruling dispensation or the Opposition parties, need to keep in mind that they are in the august House to solve problems of the people they represent. If they cannot rise to the occasion to solve problems, whatever difficult they are, they are bound to be rejected by their electors. This is because the onus of solving problems by raising them through proper devices in the Assembly lies with them, no matter if they belong to the ruling or the Opposition parties. After the expiry of their five-year term they will have to go to the voters seeking their valuable votes. The voters too should have to exercise their franchise through conscience and see that they are not taken for a ride by politicians.