A four-term Member of Parliament — a lawyer and among the many most senior leaders of his get together — mustn’t require classes in both civics or civility. On Tuesday, Kalyan Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress was suspended for a day from the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Modification) Invoice.
The disciplinary motion towards him got here after he smashed a glass bottle throughout the JCP assembly, reportedly throughout a heated trade with former Calcutta Excessive Courtroom choose and BJP MP Abhijit Ganguly. Committee Chair Jagdambika Pal has alleged that Banerjee was trying to throw the bottle at him — the TMC chief ended up injuring himself. Parliament — together with its committees — is a spot for dissent, debate and even vociferous argument.
It isn’t — and should not grow to be — an avenue for abuse and violence. Banerjee, sadly, appears to not realise this. And at a time when the Opposition is making an attempt to realize floor, and at instances, the ethical excessive floor — after a decade in relative political wilderness — his actions are a horrible letdown.
A consultant to the Lok Sabha carries the privileges and expectations of the individuals who voted for him. Sadly, the incident this week shouldn’t be the primary time Banerjee has pushed the boundaries of propriety. Final 12 months, when 147 MPs had been suspended and the Opposition was besieged, the TMC MP’s crude mimicry of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar drew unwarranted consideration. In reality, all through Dhankhar’s tumultuous tenure as Governor of West Bengal, Banerjee continually prevented the excessive floor — he known as Dhankhar a “bloodsucker” and filed circumstances towards him.
Earlier this 12 months, throughout the Lok Sabha marketing campaign, he referred pejoratively to CPM candidate Dipsita Dhar’s complexion, and in 2009, he made off-colour and unsubstantiated remarks about then West Bengal CM’s private habits.
Banerjee’s conduct on the parliamentary committee meet, then, isn’t any aberration. Given his place and seniority within the TMC, it may also be seen as a part of what ails the get together. Into its third time period in workplace in West Bengal, and because the fourth-largest get together within the Lok Sabha, the TMC is now not only a get together of protest and the road. Whereas its origins have been “anti-establishment” in an period of Left dominance, it’s now a part of the facility construction. Its leaders, with their phrases and actions, can’t be so immature as to resort to abuse and violence.
Banerjee’s behaviour isn’t just politically counterproductive. It additionally exhibits an unconscionable disregard for the processes of Parliament and the folks he represents.
