Two-and-a-half hours after midnight, when the debate on Gujarat entered its 14th hour in the Lok Sabha, the government had the numbers on its side. But its coalition looked more vulnerable than ever with the tone being set by a second resignationa drama involving National Conference leader and minister of state for external affairs Omar Abdullah.In a passionate speech in the House, Omar later said India had lost the moral high ground because of the Gujarat violence, and if Godhra was indeed an ISI operation, Pakistan must be laughing at us. ‘‘We have played into their hands,’’ he said, despite India’s tradition of democracy and secularism. He said his party wasn’t asking for Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s head: either the BJP will dismiss him, or he will step down when his conscience pricks him, or the electorate will speak.The debate on the Opposition-sponsored censure motion under Rule 184 which began at 12 noon was still on at the time of going to the Press and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was yet to have his say. Tempers ran high throughout the day with allegations and even personal insults being freely traded by members.The House lost more than a couple of hours when acrimony ruled as members brought in extraneous issues to settle scores. The debate got derailed when MDMK’s Vaiko and the Congress’ Mani Shankar Aiyer locked horns and again when ministers Uma Bharti and George Fernandes had the Opposition fuming over their remarks against Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi. In fact, Fernandes was heard asking what happened now that had not happened earlier. Close to midnight, Rashid Alvi of the BJP and Samajwadi Party members had a face-off.The discourse reached such low levels that at one point former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar remarked that the country appeared to be reaching the end of parliamentary democracy and that there was no place for him in the House any more. It was an aggressive Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav who moved the resolution, setting the tone. He asked the Prime Minister how many deaths and incidents of arson later would he act, stressing that survival of the country was of utmost importance.The BJP fielded Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Uma Bharti as its prime defender and she didn’t disappoint the saffron lobby. She started off by saying she would not make a political speech but ended up doing exactly that. She said that by the end of the debate, the House should be able to get to the root of Hindu-Muslim conflict and her argument was that the genesis could be found in the way the Congress played its politics. ‘‘Today we shouldn’t condemn Narendra Modi but condemn the practice of votebank politics,’’ she stressed.But Bharti had to cut a sorry figure when former Prime Minister Chandra Shekar tore her arguments to shreds, asking her to relearn the history of India and Hinduism. ‘‘Your speech didn’t sound like one made by a Hindu sanyasin but more like that of a Nazi volunteer,’’ he remarked.Bharti was followed by Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi, who spoke with confidence and was heard in rapt attention, even when she was trying to shame the Prime Minister.But more than anybody else’s, it was TDP’s parliamentary party leader K Yerran Naidu’s speech that the House was looking forward to. He launched a scathing attack on the Gujarat government’s failure to contain violence, in preparation for walking out during the voting, according to sources, to prove its ‘‘secular credentials’’.‘‘The people have lost faith in the Gujarat government,’’ he said, putting forth a four-point demand which included ouster of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and putting off assembly polls till normalcy was restored.And he also turned the tables on the BJP by using the PM’s own statement that the Gujarat incidents were a ‘‘national shame’’. He argued that this meant that what was happening in the state was a national and not a state issue as was being argued by the BJP.He wanted the Centre to invoke Article 355 of the Constitution and direct the Gujarat government to ensure the protection of the life and property of its people. But even after he had concluded his speech, everybody was left guessing which way his party would vote. ‘‘We are waiting for a reply from you,’’ he told Vajpayee. Without spelling out her stand on the motion, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee demanded the ouster of Modi and a comprehensive relief package for the victims of the carnage, besides giving a call to members of all parties in Parliament to jointly take out a peace march in Gujarat for restoring the confidence of the people.She said she had also moved a motion under Rule 184 for a discussion on the atrocities on weaker sections in all states and West Bengal in particular. She said the violence in both Gujarat and West Bengal amounted to state-sponsored terrorism and the Centre had to intervene to put a stop to this barbarism.BSP member Rashid Alvi said the ruling and Opposition parties were blaming one another for the riots without trying to solve the problem. ‘‘They should rise above politics if they are sincere about helping the Muslim community and restoring communal harmony,’’ he said. ‘‘The law and order in the state must be improved.’’‘‘What’s needed now is adequate relief and rehabilitation of the affected people. The government must ensure that the students are able to appear in the examinations,’’ he said.Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda demanded that Modi should be dismissed immediately if Vajpayee had to live up to the secular credentials he professed at every public forum.Late at night, Ram Vilas Paswan, who pulled out from the ministry yesterday, said even the government should support the motion to send the message that the entire country was with the minorities.
