Back to politics

ON the last day of the Winter Session, the Punjab Legislative Assembly functioned as it ought to, for almost the whole day. Queries were answered in Question Hour, Bills presented by the Congress government were debated upon, points made, some were conceded, and there was appreciation of certain steps taken by the government. Even as the SAD legislators, led by Bikram Singh Majithia, stormed out of the House over a UP strongman Raja Bhaiyya meeting Congress MLA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon, the AAP legislators played the role of the Opposition and engaged in legitimate political sparring in the House. A last-minute resolution criticising the Lok Insaf Party MLAs for allegations against a judge created an uproar that disrupted the House, as expected.

The reference was to the audio tape released by the Bains brothers, purported to be a conversation about a bribe discussed to implicate Leader of the Opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira in a drug case. Capt Amarinder Singh’s earlier stand that this was a judicial matter best left to the judiciary, was a mature one. The resolution, asking the Chief Justice to take action in the matter, smacks of political opportunism. Naturally, it provoked a sharp reaction from the affected party. Khaira’s use of unparliamentary language and personal allegations against the Chief Minister are condemnable. Under pressure, he failed to maintain decorum. 

Capt Amarinder Singh is a seasoned politician. He need not have used the House to run down a political opponent. The political gains, if any, are likely to be transitory. Now the feud between the two dominated the discourse, eclipsing some real gains that were seen in the observance of rules of behaviour and courtesies in the Assembly during this session. It is perhaps futile to hope that the Punjab Assembly would turn around from its unfortunate tradition of rancour, of raising slogans, staging walkouts, and holding accusatory press conferences, etc. Punjab expects better from its legislators.