The Hindu Business Line : A stressful day for the LS Speaker

New Delhi, July 21 For the Lok Sabha Speaker and veteran Parliamentarian, Mr Somnath Chatterjee, the first-day proceedings of the two-day special session of Parliament were stressful as he had to repeatedly restore order, with members from the treasury benches and the Opposition frequently interrupting when their respective leaders spoke.

Though the Speaker said at the beginning that it was an “important session” and he was “happy to see the full House”, the subsequent happenings perturbed him as he had to briefly adjourn, once in the post-lunch session, following a furore over some remarks by the SP leader, Mr Ramgopal Verma.

The debate centred on how the treasury benches and the Opposition viewed the nuclear issue in their own perspective instead of trying to understand what the other was saying.

In his brief remarks while moving the motion that “this House expresses its confidence in the Council of Ministers” and seeking the trust-vote, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, praised the CPI(M) leaders, Mr Jyoti Basu and Mr Harkishsen Singh Surjeet, and the DMK leader, Mr M. Karunanidhi for “their wise and visionary leadership” that helped craft this coalition government.

He also deplored that the session had to be convened “when the attention of the Government has been on the economy particularly on the control of inflation and on implementing programmes for the welfare of our people, particularly our farmers”.

The Prime Minister said that he had given assurance to all parties, including the Left, that if the Government had been allowed to complete negotiations with the IAEA and the NSG, he would himself come to Parliament for guidance before operationalising the deal.

Not against nuclear energy

However, the Leader of Opposition, Mr L. K. Advani, put the blame on the Prime Minister for singularly focussing on the nuclear issue and asked why should a deal that which makes India a junior partner and subservient to the US be gone into .

He also charged the Government with misusing democratic institutions to convert itself from ‘minority into majority’ and made it clear that his party, if voted to power, would not scrap the deal but renegotiate it as we are not against nuclear energy.

Reeling out statistics about the minuscule share of nuclear energy in the total energy generation in the country, Mr Advani said the issue is one of energy security versus national security.

The CPM Member Mr Mohammad Salim said the nuclear deal was an “uncommon national programme” and the common minimum programme was not chalked out with the US President, Mr George Bush.

He said that the independent foreign policy pursued by India and the non-aligned policy to which it was an architect should not be “mortgaged to Washington”. He said India needs “leaders and not dealers”.

Energy deficit

The Leader of the House and Congress member, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, said that “going to IAEA and Nuclear Suppliers’ Group is like getting a passport and visa to the nuclear club and to end decades of nuclear isolation”. Mr Mukherjee highlighted how energy deficit the country would be in the years to come if civilian nuclear cooperation is not firmed up to ensure adequate fuel supply for nuclear energy.

The one point that emerges clear at the end of the first day’s debate is that the nuclear deal is bound to divide the parties across the political spectrum, as their differences widen, even as the contribution of nuclear energy to total energy supply, the world over, has not been showing any spurt in the light of the known risks in terms of safety and safeguards.