President calls for smooth functioning of Parliament

Asking politicians to introspect on parliament paralysis, President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday advocated to MPs that the House should “function through debate, dissension and finally decision and not through disruption”.

The President’s call for smooth functioning of both the Houses came during his speech on the occasion of unveiling of photographs of Presidents of Central Legislative Assembly and portraits of former speakers of Lok Sabha in Parliament’s Central Hall.

“Parliament functions through debate, dissension and finally decision and not through disruption. In order to strengthen Parliamentary functioning and other democratic institutions, it is important that all stakeholders – government, political parties, their leaders and parliamentarians do some introspection and follow sound parliamentary conventions and rules,” Mukherjee said.

Mukherjee underlined that repeatedly stalling democratic institution through frequent logjams sends a wrong signal to the people as polluted origin of rivers cannot leave tributaries clean. 

“If Gangotri gets polluted, neither Ganga nor any of its tributaries can stay unpolluted. It is incumbent upon all Parliamentarians that they maintain the highest standards of democracy and parliamentary functioning,” he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, senior ministers and former speakers were present at the function.
DH News Service