Slippery tactics

In Orissa, the Lanjigarh project has sparked hostilities since it was put on the drawing board. For one side, it is the frontrunner in a plan to vastly expand the mining of Orissa8217;s bauxite mountains and to stimulate the state8217;s economy through the aluminium industry. The other side deems this view to be misguided and speaks of the threat to the Adivasi way of life and the terrible costs to the environment. In this setting, the MoU signed earlier this month by the state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation with a private sector company for the development of bauxite mines at Lanjigarh in the southeast corner of Kalahandi district was bound to come wrapped in controversy. But what happened on Tuesday was something else. The bedlam in the Orissa assembly, from which the chief minister had to be carried out, wasn8217;t really about the controversial mining project or only incidentally so. It is about the slipsliding standards of public debate.

The sorry scenes in Orissa are shards of a bigger picture. Remember Uttar Pradesh 1993, when MLAs clashed and mikes and chairs became missiles. UP, again, in 1997, when MLAs came to blows after Mayawati decided to withdraw support to Kalyan Singh8217;s government. And it8217;s not just UP, and not just the state assembly. We have often watched debate dissolve into agitation in the hallowed Houses of Parliament. Physical violence is the most unsubtle and the most abominable but it is certainly not the only way of killing a discussion. The emptying of debate from our legislative chambers has been a longer process. Orissa, on Tuesday, is just a moment in a saga.

But that certainly can8217;t let the chappal-throwing MLA in the Orissa assembly off the hook. It doesn8217;t take away from the horror of Question Hour 8212; that period of time which is formally earmarked for a grilling of the government of the day 8212; being rendered so thoroughly meaningless. Let8217;s exclaim over what happened in Orissa by all means. But atonement will lie in a more engaged, more productive winter session of Parliament next month.