Acharya Tulsi
The temple of democracy is open to all. Anyone J. can go there, worship there and consider himself a votary of democracy. But so long as the difference between believing oneself to be the votary and becoming one is not eliminated, democracy cannot be worshipped in the real sense. The faulty method of worship becomes painful for all those who are devoted to democracy. They want to keep out such people who swear by democracy, but their infiltration does not stop. Those who cannot enter through the front door make the backdoor entry and do not desist from defiling the temple of democracy.
This is politics in which public interest is secondary and a consideration of votes becomes primary. What an odd game it is! The players who join that game collect popular votes. They get those votes on the basis of their promises that they would solve the problems of the people. Considering everything else of lesser importance, they would work for public welfare. While considering everything else of lesser importance, even public welfare is given the secondary place. The latest example is the recent obstructing tactics adopted in our Parliament.
When there is Parliament, there are political parties too. If there are parties there is the party in power as also the parties not in power. Otherwise Parliament cannot be constituted. But when the party in power and the parties not in power become adversaries, no work can be done with goodwill. With the erosion of mutual goodwill, there is a chance of many problems cropping up.
Last year (1992) we were at Ladnun. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader, L.K. Advani came there. We had a discussion about the ruling and the opposition parties. I said, "The word 'opposition' itself is wrong. It means 'the party that is an adversary'. Taking the opposition stance leads to more hostility and animosity. It is the function of the government to protect the people and their interests and promote national progress. In this work, the responsibility of the parties not in power is as much as that of the party in power. The parties not in power do have the right to point a finger at the weaknesses of the party in power. But when these parties on two sides become adversaries, people's interests are forgotten and the interests of the parties are kept in mind". Advaniji said, "Parties not in power is a better expression."
If the present situation is reviewed, it appears that today the opposition is occupying the throne of the party out of power. That is the basic reason of parliament proceedings coming to a standstill. The only point is that both the ruling party and the opposition are adamant in their uncompromising stand with regard to the report on the security scam presented in Parliament. The opposition insists that the report should be withdrawn and should be tabled in Parliament after taking the necessary action in accordance with the report. The government is not prepared to withdraw the report. Both the sides have their own political considerations. The opposition has boycotted the Parliament session and the government is determined to continue the session How can Parliament function without the presence of the ruling party and.the opposition? No one is bothered about the harm being done to the nation as a result of this tug of war between the two sides.
We have nothing to do either with the government or the opposition. We are on the tour for character building. The campaign for character building is going on. So we have started making an attempt because we regarded it as our duty under the present circumstances. We have sent a special message to all leaders; those who are in government as well as the opposition thatthey should put aside their prejudices, stop making it as issue of prestige and stop this stalemate in Parliament. Unless this is done, they would prove the validity of the adage ‘Damage at home and ridicule among the people‘. He who can compromise with the situation becomes successful. He who does not think in terms of Compromise, lags behind and fails. I am confident that this dead lock would end and the dignity of Indian Parliament would be preserved.
