Behave, Speaker tells MPs ahead of winter session

Anticipating a stormy Winter Session of Parliament from November 26, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan wrote a letter to all members, saying she expected “acceptable decorum” from them in the House “as many times decency is thrown to the winds following difference of opinion over issues.”

She said it was not unusual to have differences of opinion in a democracy at any platform of ideas. “Up to this, it is fine,” she said.

“But at times, beyond the agreements and disagreements, decency is thrown to the winds which leads to a situation of deadlock. In that situation, there is a negative impact on all of us, on the entire country. A thought came to me that at least we should talk to each other and I should express my feelings to you,” she wrote.

Mahajan appeared to be alluding to the last monsoon session of Parliament which was a complete washout following a stalemate over the Opposition’s demand for removal of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over various controversies.

 Amid the bedlam, the Speaker had to suspend 25 of the 44 Congress members for five days for disrupting the House.

The Speaker said in her letter that “in every aspect of life, everybody expects decent and moral behaviour from each other. As Speaker, can I expect that in Lok Sabha, which we call the temple of democracy, we all will show behaviour as per the acceptable decorum so that the prestige and purity is upheld?”