Shrinking of sittings in every session of Vidhan Sabha matter of concern: MP Assembly Speaker
Satyaprakash Sharma
bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker Girish Gautam has said that the shrinking of the sittings in every session of the Vidhan Sabha is a matter of concern and lack of quality debate is a big reason behind it. Due to this, perhaps legislators hurt the people’s trust, he says.
Gautam, who was elected as a Speaker of the MP Assembly on February 22, 2021, is an MLA from the Deotalab constituency of the Rewa district of the Vindhya region of the state. He is a four-term MLA and has been winning successively since 2003 from Mangawan (one term) and Deotalab (three terms) seats.
In an interview with Millennium Post Chief Correspondent Satyaprakash Sharma, Gautam emphasised that the legislators should be trained from time-to-time about the rules and the proceedings of the House. He also interacted on several issues related to the Assembly.
It is witnessed that the number of sittings in every session of the Assembly has been shrinking for some years. How do you see this decline?
It is a matter of concern. Keeping the issue in mind, the National Legislators’ Conference Bharat is being organised at MIT Pune in Maharashtra from June 15-18, in which MLAs and MLCs will take part from across the assemblies and the councils of the country to discuss the issue and they will brainstorm to resolve it.
What is the reason behind it in your consideration?
A quality-less debate is being done in the Houses by the legislators so we cannot get the public attention towards the House and public representatives. Due to this, we have hurt people’s trust. Nowadays, it is a debatable issue that the legislature is a powerful pillar and it makes the courts. Even with more than 6.80 crore cases pendency in the judiciary across the country, the trust of people has not declined in the judiciary.
Perhaps, the fruitful results in the public interest are not coming from the House, a decrease in debates is witnessed in the House, and due to these reasons, we have lost their trust. Every legislator says the House is his temple so the members are considered its priest. If the pujari is not playing a proper role, then how can common people trust them?
Should the legislators be trained after taking the oath as a member of the House?
I believe that training programmes should be held for all legislators who come to the Assembly after being elected so that they get information about the rules and proceedings of the House and understand the significance of the sittings. Many times it is seen that an MLA errs to understand the difference between delivering speeches in his constituency and the House because the House speech leads with some assumptions and legislative rules.
As the Speaker, what message do you want to give to the legislators of the state?
By electing, people send the MLAs to the Assembly to execute a great responsibility and it is their duty to live up to the people’s hopes, expectations and dreams.
So they should raise their voices in the House under the rules for the people’s welfare and development as possible. Assembly is not a place to listen peacefully but it is neither to be allowed to become a crematorium nor a market too.
In the House, a fair debate should be held and brainstormed, nectar should be released through this churn for the people’s welfare.
What would you have to say about the Opposition Congress’ allegations over the recent suspension of an MLA?
I have not suspended the MLA, he has been expelled from the Budget session by the Vidhan Sabha. There is no role of mine in it because the Speaker and Assembly have separate rights. The suspension has been done on a proposal of the House, which has been passed by the Vidhan Sabha on the vote of the majority and it is the duty of the Opposition to make allegations.
