How to talk

When details of a US state department letter to American congressmen became public, the opposition — both the NDA and the Left-led “third front” — was predictably united in agitation. Immediately a demand arose amongst them that a session of Parliament be called forthwith so that there could be discussion on the nuclear deal. They argued that a Parliament session was within their democratic right as the Monsoon session had been drastically abridged to the vote of confidence in July. In fact, last heard, a delegation of the Left, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Telugu Desam was scheduled to meet President Pratibha Patil to reason out the demand. Legal counters and the point that the letter placed nothing new in the public domain aside, the demand nonetheless touched a chord. The opposition was seeking a discussion on the floor of the House; what could be more heartening for our acutely discussion-deficit legislatures than just this?

The president, the Government and the opposition will show their thinking in the week ahead, and we will see whether the opposition’s outrage will in fact hold in the post-NSG waiver triumphalism. But the very fact of the demand for a Parliament session raises questions that both the government and the opposition must stay with responsibly. It is indeed unfortunate that the Monsoon session was practically done away with. The vote of confidence arguably left the treasury benches drained, and the aftermath of the vote was always bound to be acrimonious. These, however, are the burdens that go with upholding the spirit of a parliamentary democracy, where the treasury benches must respond to whatever comes their way in the legislature.

For the opposition too, it must be a time for introspection. As these columns have argued, the debates in the vote of confidence were refreshing. To hear MPs of diverse hues argue their cases brought context and accountability of a sort impossible to get in quick-fire TV debates. But if the opposition offers, as it currently appears to, cooperation only in privilege and trust motions, that too would be a politics of evasion.

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