Opinion No permanent friends or enemies

Protective cover

Last Monday,protesting MPs ran amuck in the Rajya Sabha snatching papers,tossing files and tearing a copy of the Women’s Bill. Taking no chances,on Tuesday the parliamentary stenographers who record House proceedings cleared their table of all movable objects,including heavy reference books,paperweights,pen knives and files. Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley took the precaution of bringing three copies of his speech. He left one for safekeeping with the deputy chairperson.

Some 35 marshals formed a protective ring stretching from the chairperson’s desk to the note-takers’ table in the well of the House. The marshals,who were ordered to remove the seven recalcitrant MPs,went about their job of physically evicting them with professionalism,even as the TV cameras focused only on the chairperson’s face. Although Watch and Ward staff are not permitted to carry arms,nearly half are police officers who have been temporarily inducted for an assignment in Parliament.

Script changed midway

Unlike his hands-on approach towards the nuclear deal,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seemed rather indifferent to the fate of the Women’s Bill. It was only after Sonia Gandhi cracked the whip following Monday’s fiasco that the Congress leaders went into hyperactive mould. The ruling party then took the extreme position that there would be no debate,only voting on the Bill.

The Congress’s pre-planned script for Tuesday went awry when Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley started his speech after the voice vote even as the arrangements for electronic voting were in progress and the TV channels flashed the news that the Bill had been passed. Finding that Jaitley’s speech was audible,as the heckling had largely subsided with the removal of protesting MPs,the ruling party followed Jaitley’s cue and went ahead with the debate,abandoning the voting midway. Chairperson Hamid Ansari even sent a thank you letter to the Opposition leader.

Patel’s point noted

Arun Jaitley sent a chit to Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel in the Rajya Sabha,“You look like a medical sales representative.” He was alluding to the fact that Patel had removed his coat but still wore his tie. Patel wrote back,“Considering what happened yesterday,I may well become one.” He was referring to the passage of the Women’s Bill in the Rajya Sabha,which meant he could no longer count on re-election to Parliament from his family seat of Bhandara in Maharashtra.

Changing his spots

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir’s sharp rebuff to India during his press conference in Delhi last week took the Ministry of External Affairs by surprise. Earlier in the day,talks between Bashir and his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao had proceeded fairly amicably. But,Bashir changed his tone in front of the Indian media declaring that Pakistan would not be lectured to by India. He even dubbed India’s charge sheet against Hafiz Sayeed “more literature than evidence”. It seems Bashir’s mood swing came about after a stormy meeting with National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon. The Ministry hastily held a second press briefing the same day in response to Bashir’s hectoring tone.