Wither Democracy
BY now you must have realised why I am not a great fan of democracy. Where is the constitutional obligation of collective responsibility of Cabinet when TMC, a coalition partner in the ruling UPA proposes an amendment to the official Lok Pal bill? We all have seen how the government can manipulate the proceedings in both the houses of parliament, even the chairman of Rajya Sabha who is Vice President of the country as well. Previously, we have seen that land acquisition bill was delayed as also the rise in petroleum prices because of elections in West Bengal. We have also seen, only recently the withdrawal of FDI in retail because of opposition by TMC. In UPA I too, left pulled the leg of the government quite often for the government to postpone many decisions. WHAT happened on Dec. 29 was sheer betrayal of democracy by UPA, Congress in particular. If govt. were honest, it could extend the deliberations beyond mid night, Leaders of both the houses_Pranab da in Lok Sabha and Manmoha