The 'Intolerance' Debate

It is intolerable that the precious time of the Lok Sabha should be frittered away on debates on issues like intolerance and that there should have been need for as many as three adjournments within a day. People who are responsible for this colossal waste of public money as a consequence, ought to forfeit the right to be lawmakers, considering that it costs crores of rupees for a single day of the Lok Sabha’s functioning. When issues like intolerance cause three adjournments of Parliament’s business in a day, we are not really dealing with debates but rather with an act of sabotage that derails the real work of Parliament. Where was the need for the false allegation made about a statement to a magazine attributed to Union Home Minister Rajth Singh—that India had got a Hindu ruler after 800 years? Not content with merely denying the allegation made by CPI(M) MP Mohammad Salim, the Home Minister said that if a home minister makes such a statement, he has no right to be in his post. The Opposition should abandon this unseemly trend of disrupting parliamentary proceedings as calculated acts of sabotage.