Letters: Respect the opposition

This refers to “Coal row: House battle set to turn into a war” (August 29). In no other democracy would the head of the ruling party ask its members to wage war against the opposition, nor would the head of the government castigate the national auditor for fulfilling its constitutional obligation to make the government accountable. The opposition is as vital an organ in a democracy as the ruling establishment and boycotting Parliament is one of the legitimate tools for making the government accountable. During the National Democratic Alliance rule, the Congress-lead opposition also used the same tool more than often. Regarding Congress’ charge that the Bharatiya Janata Party is running away from a debate in Parliament on Comptroller Auditor General’s (CAG’s) report on coal block allotments, the fate of the CAG’s 2G report speaks volumes about the way in which parliamentary debates or joint parliamentary committee and public accounts committee proceedings are carried out when the issue is the government’s accountability.

M C Joshi Lucknow

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