Manipur with Imphal as its capital, is a North
Eastern State of which we perhaps know little.
Its people include the Meitei, Pangal, Naga, and Kuki, Zomi and
Gorkhali(Nepali) who speak different languages of branches of the Tibeto-Burman
family. The state is bounded by Nagaland, Mizoram, Assam and Burma.
The recently
concluded 15th Lok Sabha session saw
many shades of histrionics ranging from an MP using pepper spray inside the
Parliament house to other MPs incessantly and nonchalantly chanting "phaad
do, phek do" as the controversial Telangana Bill was being discussed. Not
only was, for the first time, the Lok Sabha telecast blacked out (the reason is
still being debated), it was also the most disrupted Lok Sabha session in the
history of independent India. Usually it is the Opposition that is guilty of
disrupting the house, but in the Winter Session even Congress MPs from the
Telangana regions were equally responsible for the din. It looks apparent that
Parliament can't be proud of the legacy of the 15th Lok Sabha, which, many
believe was an unusually painful chapter in the country's legislative history.
Corruption was the dominant narrative. Ministers were sent to jail. Others
demeaned the institution in numerous ways — disrupting proceedings, giving the
short shrift to important legislative business, culminating in the unedifying
spectacle of an elected representative showering pepper spray on the House.
Through these years, UPA 2's policy paralysis and lack of governance was for
all to see in the House. Faced with waves of corruption charges — from CWG to
2G and Coalgate, the treasury benches turned almost catatonic — there was
almost complete absence of political and administrative direction.
There were rare instances
when both sides of the aisle joined forces —the Lokpal Bill, Telangana
creation, amending criminal laws after the Nirbhaya incident, Food Security
Bill etc., Disruptions were the order of
the day, so much so that the 15th Lok Sabha witnessed almost a full session
being washed away on the issue of JPC in the 2G spectrum scam. Parliament
transacted normal business for only 24 per cent of its total time in the
extended winter session that started on February 5. A report of the PRS
Legislative Research said that in the 12 sittings in this period, while Lok
Sabha lost 79 per cent of scheduled time to disruptions, the Rajya Sabha lost
73 per cent time to disruptions. Just
minutes before it ended, Congress members were in the Well of the House holding
placards demanding that the session be extended by two days for passage of
anti-graft bills. The Opposition took digs at the ruling side asking how many
bills it had passed in the past 20 years.
Often there is reference
of the Women’s Reservation Bill, currently pending in the Rajya Sabha, proposes
to reserve one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies
for women. The 15th Lok Sabha had 58 women MPs – this is the first time their
representation has crossed 10%. In this note, we describe the performance of
women candidates and profile of women MPs.
Though these women MPs regularly attended sessions, there was no
participation in debates, nor did they ask any Questions….. !!
The youngest of the Parliamentarians were Hamdullay
Sayeed from Lakshadweep at 31 and Ramya Divya Spandana from Mandya also 31.
Nilesh Narayan Rane from Ratnagiri was 32; then there were Agatha Sangma,
Feroze Varun Gandhi and Sarika Singh Baghel all 33. Today there was news of Ms Jayapradha who was
elected securing 230724 votes. The
youngest Divya Spandana (stage name Ramya) is a film actress too.
Here is something found on
the last page of The Hindu, ‘It was close to 5p.m. The sun had started setting
and in an hour, there would be darkness all around. A man stood silently,
taking in the surroundings of a place he had been a part of, on and off, since
1952. A place he said he would never come back to. The man at 94 is India’s oldest parliamentarian who has called it a day. There was no farewell
handshake from his fellow MPs from the Rajya Sabha, the chairperson or other
employees although everybody knew that they would perhaps not see him again. He
boarded his waiting car and silently left for his residence on Wednesday. I had
earlier posted about him as being the living member of the Constituent assembly
: http://www.sampspeak.in/2012/05/indian-parliament-turns-60-living.html
.He was honoured too when the Indian Parliament celebrated its 60 years of
existence. After becoming a Republic,
first general elections were held in 1951-52 ; Lok Sabha was constituted on
April 17, 1952 and the Lok Sabha held its first session, a month later, on May
13th. 60 years marks a very long time and it is indeed great that this man was a member of the first Sabha too.
It is
the Congress leader from Manipur,
Rishang Keishing. Interestingly, he was not a congressman but a
Socialist MP at that time. Rishang Keishing
was born in 1920. Now at 94, Rishang Keishing has retired from politics. He has had a chequered political career,
getting elected four times to Parliament, twice to the Rajya Sabha. A
heavyweight in Manipur politics, he worked and manoeuvred his way to become the
Chief Minister four times though he could not complete any of them, as in those
days there was no anti-defection law and MLAs used to change parties for loaves
and fishes.
Mr. Keishing has worked
with leaders who grace the pantheon of India’s contemporary political history,
starting with Nehru. He cherishes their memory and respects every one for all
that he has learnt from them. Though he started his political career as a
socialist, he joined the Congress in 1964. In 1972, the United Naga Integration
Council, which he floated, merged with the Congress on the ground that the
“Congress has no objection to the Naga integration movement.” But life has not
been all rosy. Many were against the movement for the vivisection of Manipur on
tribal lines that he was part of. Mr. Keishing’s critics said Manipur, with its
2,000 years of written history, could not be divided to appease some sections.
When pressed for a comment, Mr. Keishing told The Hindu: “ It was long time
back, I do not remember much.” He continues to guide the NGO he started for the
development of the tribal areas.
He had the
credit of being the oldest serving parliamentarian in the world, which has now
ended…… Adieu to him….. there are always lots of things to be learnt from the
past and from the words of elders……………
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
22nd Feb 2014
Inputs from : The Hindu and Prsindia.org
Rishang photo – courtesy : Indian Express.
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