No Place For Violence In Legislatures: Venkaiah

Hyderabad: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today said he was disturbed at the 'unruly behaviour' and 'unparliamentary language' in legislatures and stressed the need to move away from the current environment of settling scores and to make a new beginning.

Expressing anguish over the events (frequent disruptions) in Parliament and state legislatures, Naidu, quoting Mahatma Gandhi, said there was no place for violence in legislatures. "Let us recall Gandhiji's wise words:No perfect democracy is possible without perfect non-violence at the back of it. So let us abjure violent emotions, violent speech and violent actions. Let us discuss, debate and decide in a dignified manner," the Vice President said.

Though Naidu, who is also chairman of the Rajya Sabha,did not refer to any particular legislature, his comments today come in the backdrop of the logjam in Parliament and the recent incidents in the Telangana assembly.

In the joint session of the Telangana assembly on March 12, an object flung at the dais by main opposition Congress members hit the legislative council chairman in his eye, injuring him. The slogan-shouting Congress members had earlier accused the TRS government of being "anti-farmer", torn papers and flung them in the air.

Addressing the first National Consultation Conference on 'Swarajya to Surajya: Taking Forward the Good Governance Agenda" here, Naidu, according to an official release, urged legislators to argue with the force of logic and conviction, rather than stall the proceedings through brute force.

Stating that he was disturbed at the trends of unruly behaviour and unparliamentary language in legislatures, Naidu said "We should move away from the current environment of settling scores in which each party adopts the strategy of "I disrupt because you have done it before." "Can we not end this spiral? I think we can and we should. Let us make a new beginning", the Vice President said.

Naidu reminded MPs and MLAs of their responsibility of ensuring the accountability of the executive, which includes good governance. "Colonial rulers used to be blamed for everything going wrong then. There is no such excuse under own rule, i.e Swaraj, except blaming ourselves for such things." Parliament needs to emerge as a role model by setting high standards of performance and ensuring good governance, Naidu said. (PTI)