An episode which has shamed Indian democracy

The architect of the Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar once said, ‘However good a Constitution may be, if those who implementing it are not good, it will prove to be bad. However bad a Constitution may be, if those implementing it are good, it will prove to be good.’

The same could very well apply to our parliamentary democracy where the discussions and debates pertaining to crucial factors affecting the nation’s economy, politics and society are inevitably linked to the mettle of those whom we elect to the two August Houses - the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

These are institutions where towering personalities have debated and argued on momentous issues; and where their great wisdom has helped unravel many hitherto unknown facets which would go on to become stepping stones of a nation in the making in the early years after freedom.

On Thursday (September 21), the very same Lok Sabha at its new premises, witnessed an unsavoury episode with a BJP MP, Ramesh Bidhuri from a Delhi seat reportedly using inappropriate language to attack fellow MP, Danish Ali, who belongs to a minority community.

The said video soon went viral on social media leaving viewers red-faced hearing the words used by the MP. After all, these are our leaders who reach the Lok Sabha after securing the support of lakhs of voters who repose their faith in them hoping that it will be redeemed in full measure.

And the last thing citizens expect from their elected representatives is the use of abusive language to target their political rivals. What also left viewers of the proceedings shocked was the manner in which two of the MP’s colleagues sat laughing while he was making the slanderous remarks even though one MP did later try to make amends saying he could not hear what was being said.

Bidhuri has been issued a show cause notice by the BJP with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh apologising for his conduct. But the incident leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth.

Despite all its efforts to project itself as a party for all, the truth is that the BJP has hardly been able to gain the confidence of those other than the majority community.

The attempts by its governments in several states to bulldoze minorities into submission and efforts in states like Karnataka to bring in legislation which can hardly be considered minority-friendly, may have earned it the support of certain sections among Hindus but has left the minorities wondering if the party is truly representative of the multi-hued society which India is.

Among hard-core votaries of Hindutva who have made no secret of their aversion for the minorities, Bidhuri may earn support but the bigger question is whether any MP in a parliamentary democracy can use such language and get away with it?

Failure comes only when we forget our ideals and objectives and principles, said our first PM Jawaharlal Nehru decades ago. And obviously, what happened in parliament the other day was one such moment when a leader chosen by his people to espouse the highest causes, instead choose to rain words which can hardly be categorised as decent, on his colleague.

Such remarks should have instantaneously drawn the harshest of criticism from all quarters including leaders of the ruling party at the Centre but all that the BJP has done is to ask the MP to explain his behaviour.

The truth is out for all to see in black and white - and the people are watching and carefully judging every move and word of their leaders and whether they really deserve the high offices they occupy as the nation waits for the polls due in eight months from now.

Propriety, decency and the setting of high moral values all go into the making of a great leader but no one seems to care for them anymore for the hunger for power-at any cost-seems to overrule them all.