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DR. SHASHI THAROOR (THIRUVANANTHAPURAM): Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity for a first-term Member of Parliament to have a word on this extremely important occasion.
Mr. Chairman, as we reflect on the 60th anniversary of this august House and this Parliament, it is time to think a little bit about the democracy that this body enshrines. The whole emanation of the idea of India, to borrow Rabindranath Tagore’s famous phrase, the idea of a plural civilization, a civilization that has been created by generations of people of various backgrounds coming to contribute to our history, Nehruji spoke about a palimpsest written over by new, succeeding waves of people coming to this country, making the India we know today and yet not erasing what has gone before.
In the last sixty years of this Parliament, Mr. Chairman, India has grown from 370 million people in 1952 to 1.2 billion people today. We have reorganized our State structure. We have defended our country from internal and external dangers, and we have managed to do this while remaining democratic.
Our Parliament is the result of that magical exchange of hopes and promises, exchanges of compromises and aspirations, that constitute the people’s mandate, for every one of the MPs sitting in this House today. It is with this that we represent the people, whose hopes they have entrusted to us to fulfil through our work in this House. Democracy, that we in this House and this institution embodies, has given the poor, the oppressed an opportunity to break free of their lot. And, this is reflected too in the changing composition of this Parliament, the degree to which the broadening social and class base of this Parliament has been reflected in the history of the last 60 years. The way in which no one today is excluded and we have a Parliament that truly looks like India.
Our Parliament reflects our great diversity. Even today’s debate is a proof of that – the various languages we have heard spoken, the different ethnicities that have risen to contribute to today’s reflection and discussion, the different religions and castes represented amongst the Members of Parliament today. This Parliament embodies the idea that India is a country where we can transcend differences of caste, of creed, of colour, of culture, of cuisine, of conviction of consonant of costume and of custom, and still rally around a consensus. That consensus is on the simple idea that in a large and diverse democracy like ours, we do not really need to agree all the time; so long as you will agree on the ground rules of how you will disagree. This is what this Parliament embodies – how we can disagree in a way that strengthens our nation, strengthens our democracy and strengthens the future of India.
This is the idea of India; it is an idea of a diverse land where all of us belong, where you can be many things and one thing. You can be a good Christian or a good Muslim, a good Keralite, a good Indian – all at once, because all of these identities are secured in the identity of Indianness that this Parliament today embodies.
I know that in other countries, they speak of the minor differences that divide people. In our country, this Parliament celebrates the commonality of major differences. We celebrate all the varieties of our nation. In fact, when I used to live in the United States, I would tell American audiences that your country calls itself a melting pot. We are not a melting pot; we have many differences in our country; we are, instead, a thali, because we are a collection of different dishes, each of which has a different taste, does not necessarily mix with the next, but they belong together on the same plate, and they contribute to give you a satisfying repast. That is our India – the India of the thali.
This Parliament’s Founding Fathers wrote a Constitution for their dreams. Today we have given passports to their ideals. We must live up to those ideals; let us ask ourselves in this Parliament – and I say this with all the humility of a new Member, let us ask ourselves whether we are always worthy of those ideals of our founding fathers. Let us ask ourselves, if the way in which this Parliament was conducted 60 years ago, is still the way in which we behave today – whether the slogan shouting, the disruption that we have seen, that has deprived us of so many days of work in this House, is the true reflection of the high aspirations that we are praising, and honouring, and commemorating today.
Let us also say to ourselves that this is the time when many outside this Parliament, the self-appointed representatives of civil society has challenged this Parliament’s right to represent the people, have claimed that there is a disconnection from the popular will of this country. Let us show, not only that we have the popular mandate through the votes that we have won, let us also show that we believe in fulfilling the needs of the people, and that we will use this Parliament to work for the people, and not to disrupt our work.
Equally, I had the privilege of calling on the Speaker, to offer the suggestion that we could take the Parliament to the people by having a five-day Session, somewhere other than Delhi. I suggested Bengaluru, not only because it is a State ruled by a Party other than mine, but because it has the facilities to host both the Houses of Parliament. Let us go to another part of the country, show the nation that they too have a claim; they do not have to come to Delhi to see parliamentarians at work, but it is available to them, everywhere in the country.
I would respectfully suggest that what we need to do is to remain faithful to the founding values of our nation’s Parliament, to the founding values of our democracy and our Constitution; and in that process, we need to revive it, we need to come out with new creative, positive ideas to make Parliament more relevant and more connected to the people and this nation.
If we are true to these founding values of the 20th century, I know that this Parliament can go on to transform the future of India in the 21st century.
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