New Delhi, April 21 (IANS) Suggesting suspension of live telecast of Question Hour in the upper house of parliament, Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President M. Hamid Ansari Sunday said there is a need to correct the “collective behaviour” responsible for frequent house disruptions.
The vice president, in an all-party meeting here, said he called the meeting in “agony and distress” as the disruptions caused by members in the house were adversely affecting the public perception of parliament.
“Since one possible objective of disruptions is to seek instant publicity through live telecast of proceedings, we may dispense with simultaneous telecast of the Question Hour and instead have it on a deferred basis,” official sources quoted the vice president as having said.
Ansari also said that the members creating disruption by rushing towards the chairman’s podium or otherwise indulging in “grossly disorderly behaviour” should be named in the records, the sources said.
He suggested that consultations should be initiated for incorporation in the rules a provision of automatic suspension for a specified period of a member creating grave disorder in the house. He said a similar rule existed in Lok Sabha, they said.
“The sad, and deeply disturbing, truth is that such adjournments have been forced with disturbing frequency. If this practice goes unchecked, public esteem for parliament as the highest forum of our democracy will be adversely affected leading, eventually, to questions about its very relevance,” said Ansari.
The vice president said expressions like “competitive hooliganism” and “collective shame” were used to describe the behaviour of unruly members by media and this reflected poorly on the dignity of the house of elders and brought it down in public esteem.
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