Seechewal expresses anguish at stalling of House proceedings, writes to RS chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar

“Both the ruling party and the Opposition are equally responsible for wasting crores of rupees of the people,” Seechewal said.

“I have attended three Parliament sessions during my 10-month tenure as a member of the Rajya Sabha. Amid the noise in the first and second sessions, I raised some important public issues of Punjab and the country. But proceedings in both parts of the current budget session have so far been stalled amid uproar in the House. Surprisingly, hardly 4.5 hours of work has been done till March 29, 2023. I am a person who is working on the ground in the field of environment with the help of thousands of common people. And I come to Parliament only to raise the issues related to air, water and clean earth from this platform,” Seechewal said in his letter, adding that it is however sad to say that “the dream for which I came to the Rajya Sabha has started crumbling and I am getting a feeling that my tenure as RS member is a waste of time”.

The environmentalist said that he was not interested in politics and the only aim of his life is to work on environment and to help the downtrodden for which the government had honoured him with the Padma Shri. Even former President A P J Abdul Kalam had visited Sultanpur Lodhi (Kapurthala) twice where he (Seechewal) along with his followers had revived the 165-km-long slushy ‘Kali Bein’ (black rivulet) which is now called Holy Bein, the RS member added.

“I was sent to the Upper House by the Aam Aadmi Party so that the entire country can benefit from my experience in the field of environmental protection and I can raise such issues in the House. But in the Parliament, instead of raising real issues like damage to wheat crops due to untimely rain and the formation of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on issues related to Adani, our ruling party is stalling the House by making Rahul Gandhi’s apology a national issue which is beyond comprehension,” Seechewal wrote in the letter.

“When the government does not listen to the Opposition and does not give up its rigid attitude, it is understandable for the Opposition to make a fuss. But it is the government’s responsibility to run the Parliament and the government is not allowing the House to run. This is tantamount to treason and is against the democratic spirit of the country and the people of the country,” the RS member wrote in the letter.

If the leadership of the country cannot solve the issue of running the Parliament, then how will the real issues of the country be solved, he asked in the letter.

“I understand that be it the ruling party or the Opposition parties, the common issues like environment, conservation of natural resources, health, education, poverty, hunger, unemployment and malnutrition are not on their agenda. They just pass the time by doing politics,” he said.

The RS chairman being the custodian of the House, it is his responsibility to protect the parliamentary values, which he has been constantly doing, Seechewal said in the letter. He asked the RS chairman to make both the parties accountable and to stop the wastage of time and hard-earned money of people, which is used to run the Parliament. “I expect an exemplary action by you (RS chairman) in this regard,” Seechewal said.