Jaitley evokes Nehru in blog, questions frequent Parliament disruptions

He proclaimed that "those who claim the legacy of Panditji must ask themselves the question, what kind of history they are making"

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday questioned the frequent disruptions in Parliament over several issues like the National Herald Case and the law and order situation in Punjab, etc and said the approved Constitutional Amendment Bill on the Goods and Service Tax (GST) was still waiting to be discussed.

"The last session of the Parliament did not function. The current session of the Parliament is also threatened with a wash out. The reasons for the wash out of the current session keep changing by the hour. The nation is waiting for the Parliament to discuss public issues, to legislate and approve a historic Constitution Amendment enabling the GST," Jaitley said in his blog on Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and Parliament.

"All this is being indefinitely delayed. The question we need to ask ourselves is, "are we being fair to ourselves and to this country?" he added.

Jaitley also questioned law makers by reminding them of a speech made by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the last day of the first Lok Sabha in which he said that Parliament is responsible for the governance of India.

"Today, I re-read a speech on the parliamentary system by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It was delivered on 28th March, 1957 - the last day of the First Lok Sabha. The speech is a must read for all of us. An important paragraph of the speech reads thus:

"Here, we have sat in this Parliament, the sovereign authority of India, responsible for the governance of India. Surely, there can be no higher responsibility or greater privilege than to be a member of this sovereign body which is responsible for the fate of the vast number of human beings who live in this country. All of us, if not always, at any rate from time to time, must have felt this high sense of responsibility and destiny to which we had been called. Whether we were worthy of it or not is another matter. We have functioned, therefore, during these five years not only on the edge of history but sometimes plunging into the processes of making history."

"Those who claim the legacy of Panditji must ask themselves the question, what kind of history are they making," Jaitley questioned.

President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday also said that the Parliament should function through debate, dissent and decision and not disruption.