The Indian Parliament is the
new gold standard in the display of ruckus by the elected peoples’
representatives in the legislative bodies.
The Indian Parliament and the
legislative assemblies of the different Indian states have had a proud history
of dissent expressed in ways like throwing chairs, tearing papers, grabbing
collars, breaking or grabbing microphones, putting bangles on desks, banging on
the desks, storming the well of the House, waving bundles of currency notes and
so on.
But what happened on February 13,
2014 in the Indian Parliament surpassed all. It was a unique day due to the
unique events that took place in the House.
In addition to the routine tools
of ruckus, innovative tools like pepper spray and knife (or a broken microphone,
as being contested) were used. (To make the efforts more comprehensive, a
computer screen, too, was smashed.)
There are no more points of doubt
on the worthiness of pepper spray for its use as the ultimate handy tool of
defense in case of facing stalkers and goons that we can come across anywhere
and everywhere in this country, even in its Parliament, that forces the
parliamentarians to carry tools like pepper sprays (and knives, as being
reported and contested).
The use of pepper spray by the
Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, while opposing the Telangana Bill’s tabling
in the House, has been established beyond doubt. It was there for everyone to
see, inside the Parliament and across the nation on the TV sets, with many
parliamentarians rushing out of the House to save them from the aftermath of
the pepper spray use.
There is an ongoing debate on the
use of knife. Media reports said a ‘lawmaker’ from Andhra Pradesh, while
opposing the Telangana Bill, brandished knife in the House. The ‘lawmaker’, Mr.
Venugopal Reddy (Telugu Desam Party) denied he was a lawbreaker and said what
he brandished was Speaker’s microphone and not knife.
Pepper spray can be the next gold
standard in saving life as it saved the life of a parliamentarian and could
successfully threaten others in the Parliament today.
In fact, pepper spray can be used
as the gold standard for the internal security blanket of the Indian Parliament
that costs a huge sum to the public exchequer, thus helping the nation in
balancing the fiscal deficit.
The easily available pepper
sprays can be modified to be introduced professionally in the Parliament. And
even the modified versions would be a pleasure for the account books when seen
on a comparative cost-scale with the automatic ammunition being used.
After today’s episode, the Indian
Parliaments has decided to study the prospect in detail and has formed a
high-powered committee to come with its recommendations soon.