Srinagar: Former Parliamentary Affairs minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Thursday said the Parliament should be allowed to function smoothly as abstention from proceedings by the opposition only helps the government.
“I am against disrupting the functioning of the House. If you do not allow the House to function, then why do you get elected? Entering the House means you will raise the national, international, and domestic issues, and the problems of the people in the Parliament before the government,” he said.
Azad’s remark comes amid uproar in Rajya Sabha by Opposition parties, who protested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi not responding to a debate on Operation Sindoor in the House and also raised the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) issue.
“The government becomes happy when the opposition walks out because it can then pass laws easily. So, the walkout by the opposition helps the government, it does not oppose them,” Azad told reporters here.
Azad, who was the Parliamentary Affairs Minister from May 2004 to November 2005 in the Manmohan Singh government, said he is always in favour of the smooth functioning of the Parliament.
Recalling his first term in the Parliament, Azad said then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi advised him not to disrupt the speech of opposition leaders in the Parliament.
“Indira called me and told me ‘you have come to the Parliament to speak and not create ruckus’. She told me that one cannot become a leader by not allowing an opposition leader to speak,” he said.
On the April 22 Pahalgam attack, the former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir said the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has owned the responsibility for the security failure and the chapter closes there.
“I think that chapter has been closed. The LG has already said something about it and he has owned the responsibility and with that the matter should be closed,” he added.
On the recent Operation Mahadev in which security forces killed three terrorists responsible for the Pahalgam attack, Azad said he supports every operation by the forces but there should be no human rights violations.
“I have always supported every operation by the forces even when I was the chief minister. Security forces had full freedom, but, I only had one condition that operations must go on, but there should be no human rights violations or fake encounters,” he said.
On the future of his Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), the former Union minister said he will take a call on whether to continue it or not.
“There is a chronic disease that when someone becomes a minister, he wants to remain a minister till he is alive. So, he hops from one party to another, and he will continue to do that till he becomes minster,” he said referring to senior leaders of his party leaving the outfit.
“But, those who were not (ministers) and were DDCs, BDCs, there has been a three-fold increase (in joining the party). I have to decide whether to continue running it (the party) or stop because the politics in Kashmir mostly runs on emotions.
“My politics is based on truth and non-violence. I speak the same thing in election and otherwise, whether in Jammu, Delhi or Srinagar. People may want me to speak different at different places, but I cannot do that,” he added.
On the claims of the US President Donald Trump of having brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan after Operation Sindoor, Azad said he has no reason not to believe Prime Minister Modi.
“Unfortunately, Trump speaks so many things. So, it is very difficult. The PM has made it clear on the floor of the House that this was our own decision and no country interfered. He has also mentioned about his talks with the vice president of America, with that the chapter is closed.
“I think we have no reason not to believe our Prime Minister. He is the elected prime minster of the country,” the DPAP chief said.
