Tags:
Journalism of Courage
In the wake of waning media interest in Parliamentary debates, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said the lack of humour in the discussions was to blame for the decreasing coverage.
“There is a lot of humour in British Parliament. But in Indian Parliament, there is hardly any humour,” Mukherjee told reporters in New Delhi.
The senior Congress leader, who is Leader of the Lok Sabha, noted that the media is now interested in a lot many subjects and not just politics. “At one point of time, politics was the only interest,” Mukherjee said interacting with journalists at an orientation programme for Parliamentary reporting.
He expressed concern over the deteriorating standards of discussion in Parliament, saying Members were raising and debating Panchayat or Assembly-level issues.
“Today, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had to remind at least three times that the issue being taken up was a state subject,” Mukherjee said.
He also criticised the trend of Members demanding suspension of Question Hour and creating obstruction to discuss issues.
“We should have zero-tolerance for obstruction,” Mukherjee said.
He added that there should be greater interaction between parties to ensure less obstruction of Parliamentary business.
