NEW DELHI: With the
winter session of
Parliament
logjammed, President
Pranab Mukherjee made an impassioned plea to MPs, saying “for God’s sake do your job”, and added that disruptions were “totally unacceptable” in the parliamentary system.
Speaking at a function here on Thursday, the President said disruption was the “fourth D” that he was never taught by his teachers, who said the three Ds essential in a democracy were “debate, dissension and decision”.
The President’s remarks were promptly interpreted by the government as a signal to the opposition with minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore tweeting the video with a comment “President slams disruptions in Parliament”.
Some opposition leaders, however, argued that the message was equally applicable to the government which needed to respect the views of its critics and had a responsibility to run Parliament.
“My teacher did not tell me there is a fourth D ‘disruption’... Disruption is totally unacceptable in the parliamentary system,” the President said.
“People send representatives to speak, not to sit on dharna or create any trouble on the floor. That is D level. Only a few weeks in a year do parliaments meet. For God’s sake, do your job, you are meant to transact business,” he said.