Press Release

National Democratic Alliance

Statement issued by
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Chairman of the NDA

At a Press Conference after a meeting of the MPs belonging to the National Democratic Alliance

I have been in Parliament for close to five decades now - for most of the time in the Opposition. However, never have I seen a time when a Prime Minister has lost his temper at the leaders of the Opposition and refused to even accept a memorandum from them. I have regards for Dr. Manmohan Singh as a person, but he does not seem to be aware of the unwritten code of political conduct that should guide the interaction between the Prime Minister and senior leaders of the Opposition. Only the other day, he exhorted the political class about a "code of conduct". He has certainly not set a good example by being impolite with the NDA delegation, and not showing the basic country of receiving their memorandum.

It is not the first time in Parliamentary history that leaders of the Opposition have come to the Prime Minister to submit memoranda whenever they could not raise certain issues in Parliament or when they wanted to put across their views in a written from. I recall many such instances during the NDA government when Congress and other Opposition leaders came to me and submitted memoranda.

Therefore, it is with deep regret and much reluctance that Members of Parliament belonging to the National Democratic Alliance decided to stay away from Parliament to protest against the Prime Minister's unbecoming conduct. I learn from Shri L.K. Advani, Leader of the Opposition, that the Prime Minister phoned him later in the evening to express regrets and to say that he did not mean to offend the NDA delegation. It is regrettable that spokesman of the government and the ruling coalition have reacted to yesterday's incident in a manner that does not reflect the "forgive and forget" message that the Prime Minister conveyed to the Leader of the Opposition.

I am also baffled by the fact that the Prime Minister, who refused to even accept a memorandum on the Finance Bill from the NDA leaders, had a detailed discussion with the leaders of the Left parties on the subject the same evening. It was equally baffling that even though Parliament is in session, the Finance Minister made certain pronouncements before the media on the issue raised by the Left parties on the Finance Bill.

For the Parliament system to function smoothly, it is necessary for both the Government and the Opposition to maintain a certain level of dialogue and cooperation. It is primarily the responsibility of the government of the day to create a conducive atmosphere for such a relationship. In my time, I strove my best to evolve a culture of dialogue and consensus on important issues before the nation. Unfortunately, the UPA government has adopted a contrary approach. I has all along tried to stonewall the issue of tainted ministers, going to the extent of defending one of them on the floor of Parliament just day before he had to be asked to resign. Even several partners of the ruling coalition have expressed the view that tainted ministers should not have a place in the government.

Rather than heeding this view, the Congress party has colluded with the decision of the Bihar government to withdraw a case against an incumbent minister in the Union government, who is facing charges in heinous crime. On the other hand, it has sided with the Karnataka government's indefensible and vindictive decision to withdraw its own earlier application to withdraw a baseless case against Uma Bharati, foisted on her for defending the citizens' right to hoist the Tricolour at a public place on August 15 and January 26.

Earlier, the UPA government sacked governors appointed by the previous government and defended it on "ideological grounds". One of its ministers publicly called for a similar purge of the government officers on "ideological grounds". I see the same undemocratic and intolerant attitude behind the government's brazen insult of a great freedom fighter like Veer Savarkar. In spite of the Opposition raising the issue in Parliament, the government has still not bothered to state the reasons for the removal of Savarkar's plaque at the Cellular Jail in Port Blair. To me, it seems that government has decided not to care for what the Opposition has to say on various issues.

Lastly, I urge the government to utilize the period between the present and the next session of Parliament to engage the Opposition parties in a constructive dialogue. Let both the Government and Opposition shoulder their respective responsibility to ensure that the next session of Parliament becomes more productive.