By IANS,
New Delhi : Disruptions and confrontational politics are not good for democracy, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said Monday and underlined the need for restraint on the part of political leaders.
“Dissent is a recognised democratic expression, but it should be expressed within the parameters of parliamentary devices and decorum,” he said, adding that “frequent incidents of disruption of legislative houses and growing confrontational politics are diluting people’s faith in the political class.”
Chatterjee was speaking at a function in the Delhi state assembly to award the city’s legislators for their outstanding performance inside and outside the house on the occasion of B.R. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary.
Some of the recipients of the awards are state assembly Speaker Chowdhury Prem Singh, S.P. Ratawal, S.C. Vats, Surendra Singh, Tajdar Babar and M.S. Sondhi.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and other senior leaders of the ruling Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were present on the occasion.
“Being a representative of the people is not about powers and privileges. The people’s representatives and those invested with the responsibility to manage public affairs have to ensure that the fruits of development reach every segment of the population, particularly to the socially and economically marginalized sections,” he said.
Referring to the enormous contribution of Ambedkar in nation building, Chatterjee said the free India owed a lot to his vision of a just and egalitarian society and to his struggle for harmony and brotherhood among the citizens.
Chatterjee also felt that the evils of casteism, socio-economic iniquities, corruption and communalism could be wiped out only by imbibing a scientific and rational temper as advocated by Ambedkar.