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left this hallowed institution with a tinge of sadness and a rainbow of memories. I left with a sense of fulfilment and happiness at having served the people of this great country through this institution.
How successful I was in discharging my responsibilities will be judged, over time, by the critical lens of history.
Today, I am no longer the president but a citizen, a pilgrim just like you in India’s march towards glory. As I reflect on my political journey, I feel privileged to have witnessed an...
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Self-correction in such situations is always a better option than self-justification.
While the ruling party’s lack of numerical strength in the Rajya Sabha has been exploited by various opposition groups since the 1990s, the more recent practice of disruption of the House was not in vogue during my early days in the Parliament. Or,
Parliament is the ‘Gangotri’ of Indian democracy. It represents the will and the aspirations of one billion-plus people and is also the link between the people and the government. If Gangotri gets polluted, neither the Ganga nor any of its tributaries can stay unpolluted. Therefore, it is incumbent upon all parliamentarians that they maintain the highest standards of democracy and parliamentary functioning.
Effective parliamentary democracy relies on the 3Ds—Debate, Dissent and Decision. However, over a period of time, a fourth D—‘Disruption’—has been injected into the system. This puts serious pressure on the government and its ability to govern, thus negating the very purpose of a parliament. Disruption hurts the Opposition more than the government since it denies them the opportunity to raise the concerns of the people. We need to correct this situation by practising tolerance and accommodation.
It is the job of the leader of the House and the leader of the Opposition to work together to carry forward the agenda of the House. As the leader of the House, I had frequent discussions with the Leader of the Opposition and other leaders on ways to ensure smooth functioning of the Parliament.
The evolutionary principle of effective functioning of the parliamentary system is that the majority will rule and the minority will oppose, expose and, if possible, depose. However, the minority must accept the decisions of the majority, just as the majority must respect the views of the minority. And all the while, discipline and decorum must be maintained and rules, conventions and etiquette observed. Dissent should be expressed with decency and within the framework of parliamentary devices. The recent passage of Goods and Services Tax (G...
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It must be kept in mind that no expenditure can be incurred by the Executive, no tax levied and no money withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund of the Centre and States without the approval of the elected legislature.
In the long history of the Congress, a really serious contest for presidency was first fought between Subhas Chandra Bose and Pattabhi Sitaramayya in 1939.
allowed my emotions and sentiments to govern my rationality.
She has a unique quality which I have myself commented upon on several occasions. She has built her own career—fearlessly and aggressively—and what she is today is the outcome of her own struggle, labour and hard work. She has an aura about her which is difficult to explain but impossible to ignore.
Though India is a ‘reluctant nuclear power’ operating on the principles of ‘minimum credible deterrence’ and has a ‘no-first use’ policy (NFU), it has to build a credible arsenal.
The second challenge was to deepen and broaden the agenda for inclusive development; to ensure that every individual, community and region received the opportunity to participate in, and benefit from, the development process.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) of 2005 was hailed as a landmark legislation that created the largest social security net in the world, making all sections of the society equal partners in India’s growth story. Putting our experience in UPA-I together with the recommendations of the National Advisory Council (NAC), we developed it as a major social development and anti-poverty programme.
