First, Who is this Suhel Seth? He is a guy who has an opinion on almost anything and everything, and emotively expresses his opinions thus making them more dramatic than ever needed. Infact, this wikipedia link about him says it well - "...more widely known as the all-purpose TV talking head, newspaper columnist".
Why this blog? So, yesterday there was Bharat Bandh. This Bandh was called by all opposition parties to protest price rise in general and the recent fuel price hike in specific. English media, as usual, were not happy with the concept of Bandh. There were some violent incidents in parts of the country. Violence is no doubt condemnable, and if the state governments have the guts, they need to arrest those who resorted to it, and then reclaim the damages. No second thoughts about that.
However, the problem with intellectuals like Suhel Seth is that they were all over the TV last night (one such program is here) going ballistic about "Why doesn't the opposition debate these issues in Parliament?". "Why doesn't the opposition have a civilised debate?". Now, this all pervasive Suhel Seth, in his quest for dramatics, has been very oblivious to the debates and multiple questions that have happened in Parliament on this very issue.
First, a quick search of the keyword "Price Rise" has given 12 results on the Lok Sabha Page. 12 debates in the last 1 year, which is a very good record. As recently as February 25, there was a full day debate in Lok Sabha on Price rise (though this debate is tagged under Price Hike!).
Fellow tweeter, Sudhir Kudva, has painstakenly listed the various questions posed by opposition members on this issue. Will append that list to this blog. Therefore, Dear Suhel Seth and the likes, while we understand your distress as a citizen about loss of public property, it is reprehensible beyond compare that you conveniently ignore the suggestions/criticisms mounted in a civilsed manner by the Opposition parties. And don't change the topic to the violence now - that is condemnable and there is no argument there. The argument is all about the unfounded criticism of the lack of debates in the Parliament. Ok, bye Suhel!
Questions on Price Rise (kudos to the excellent effort by Sudhir Kudva):
http://bit.ly/c1ALOH Question raised by BJP MP - Bijapur Karnataka
http://bit.ly/dnL50G Question raised by Dhananjay Singh BSP MP Jaunpur UP 30-04-2010
http://bit.ly/cxcMv4 Question by Shri WAKCHAURE BHAUSAHEB RAJARAM Shiv Sena MP from Shirdi Maharashtra
http://bit.ly/d1G8AY Question by Asauddin Owaisi MIM MP from Hyderabad
http://bit.ly/bT4OCh Question by Dr. MM Joshi BJP MP from Varanasi UP
http://bit.ly/dDdDFu Dr. Mahendrasinh Chauhan BJP MP from Sabarkanta Guj
http://bit.ly/bL5YuE Question by Shri Sonawane Pratap Narayanrao BJP MP Dhule Maharashtra
http://bit.ly/bNohQJ N Cheluvaraya Swamy JDS MP from Mandya Karnataka
http://bit.ly/as9yFL Question by Shri Rudra Madhab Ray BJD MP from Kandhamal Orissa
http://bit.ly/aofndU Question by Harsimrat Kaur Badal Akali Dal MP from Bhatinda Punjab
http://bit.ly/bDgyrW Question by Dr. MM Joshi BJP MP Varanasi UP
http://bit.ly/bwjThQ Question by Shri Syed Shahnawaz Hussain BJP MP from Bhagalpur Bihar
http://bit.ly/apOJeu Question by S. Pakkirappa BJP MP Raichur Karnataka
http://bit.ly/cK0hos Question by Shri SANJAY SINGH CHAUHAN RLD MP from Muzaffar Nagar UP
http://bit.ly/cX0Stk Question by Ravindra Kumar Pandey BJP MP Giridh Jharkhand
http://bit.ly/9PzrUH Question by Smt. P. JAYA PRADA NAHATA SP MP from Rampur UP
http://bit.ly/aH2oJh Question by Tathagatha Satapathy BJD MP Dhenkanal Orissa
http://bit.ly/azatxb Question by Nishikant Dubey BJP MP Godda Jharkhand
http://bit.ly/aBfgj1 Question by radha mohan singh BJP MP from Purvi Champaran Bihar
http://bit.ly/c1vTc4 Question by Nishikant Dubey BJP MP Godda Jharkhand
http://bit.ly/dj91dY Question by Kirti Jha Azad BJP MP Dharbhanga Bihar
Why this blog? So, yesterday there was Bharat Bandh. This Bandh was called by all opposition parties to protest price rise in general and the recent fuel price hike in specific. English media, as usual, were not happy with the concept of Bandh. There were some violent incidents in parts of the country. Violence is no doubt condemnable, and if the state governments have the guts, they need to arrest those who resorted to it, and then reclaim the damages. No second thoughts about that.
However, the problem with intellectuals like Suhel Seth is that they were all over the TV last night (one such program is here) going ballistic about "Why doesn't the opposition debate these issues in Parliament?". "Why doesn't the opposition have a civilised debate?". Now, this all pervasive Suhel Seth, in his quest for dramatics, has been very oblivious to the debates and multiple questions that have happened in Parliament on this very issue.
First, a quick search of the keyword "Price Rise" has given 12 results on the Lok Sabha Page. 12 debates in the last 1 year, which is a very good record. As recently as February 25, there was a full day debate in Lok Sabha on Price rise (though this debate is tagged under Price Hike!).
Fellow tweeter, Sudhir Kudva, has painstakenly listed the various questions posed by opposition members on this issue. Will append that list to this blog. Therefore, Dear Suhel Seth and the likes, while we understand your distress as a citizen about loss of public property, it is reprehensible beyond compare that you conveniently ignore the suggestions/criticisms mounted in a civilsed manner by the Opposition parties. And don't change the topic to the violence now - that is condemnable and there is no argument there. The argument is all about the unfounded criticism of the lack of debates in the Parliament. Ok, bye Suhel!
Questions on Price Rise (kudos to the excellent effort by Sudhir Kudva):
http://bit.ly/c1ALOH Question raised by BJP MP - Bijapur Karnataka
http://bit.ly/dnL50G Question raised by Dhananjay Singh BSP MP Jaunpur UP 30-04-2010
http://bit.ly/cxcMv4 Question by Shri WAKCHAURE BHAUSAHEB RAJARAM Shiv Sena MP from Shirdi Maharashtra
http://bit.ly/d1G8AY Question by Asauddin Owaisi MIM MP from Hyderabad
http://bit.ly/bT4OCh Question by Dr. MM Joshi BJP MP from Varanasi UP
http://bit.ly/dDdDFu Dr. Mahendrasinh Chauhan BJP MP from Sabarkanta Guj
http://bit.ly/bL5YuE Question by Shri Sonawane Pratap Narayanrao BJP MP Dhule Maharashtra
http://bit.ly/bNohQJ N Cheluvaraya Swamy JDS MP from Mandya Karnataka
http://bit.ly/as9yFL Question by Shri Rudra Madhab Ray BJD MP from Kandhamal Orissa
http://bit.ly/aofndU Question by Harsimrat Kaur Badal Akali Dal MP from Bhatinda Punjab
http://bit.ly/bDgyrW Question by Dr. MM Joshi BJP MP Varanasi UP
http://bit.ly/bwjThQ Question by Shri Syed Shahnawaz Hussain BJP MP from Bhagalpur Bihar
http://bit.ly/apOJeu Question by S. Pakkirappa BJP MP Raichur Karnataka
http://bit.ly/cK0hos Question by Shri SANJAY SINGH CHAUHAN RLD MP from Muzaffar Nagar UP
http://bit.ly/cX0Stk Question by Ravindra Kumar Pandey BJP MP Giridh Jharkhand
http://bit.ly/9PzrUH Question by Smt. P. JAYA PRADA NAHATA SP MP from Rampur UP
http://bit.ly/aH2oJh Question by Tathagatha Satapathy BJD MP Dhenkanal Orissa
http://bit.ly/azatxb Question by Nishikant Dubey BJP MP Godda Jharkhand
http://bit.ly/aBfgj1 Question by radha mohan singh BJP MP from Purvi Champaran Bihar
http://bit.ly/c1vTc4 Question by Nishikant Dubey BJP MP Godda Jharkhand
http://bit.ly/dj91dY Question by Kirti Jha Azad BJP MP Dharbhanga Bihar
5 comments:
My best compliments on the efforts put in too put this post together.
Hi Sudhir:
I think you are being excessively soft on Suhel Seth. After Times Private Treaties, he is probably the next best example of the the nexus between business interests and the media.
Allow me to use one example. I have blogged about this in the past and I will shamelessly plug that the link here - http://bit.ly/ciX0Mt
Suhel Seth, like Shashi Tharoor is a poster-boy for the beverage industry. The beverage industry is one of the largest advertisers and the electronic media is an exceptional beneficiary. His freedom to rant and rave on air is based on the fact that he has ties with some of the large corporate companies through his own business affairs. I believe that if he does come on air to rant - there should be a clear disclosure of his business interests. (which btw never seems to be discussed). Giving him with the title "socialite" is an insult to our intelligence. I would go to the extent of saying that one of his roles is to lobby for public-opinion - as he did with his defence of Shashi Tharoor (see my blog-post linked above).
You refer to the mop-head as "intellectual"! Please strike-through and use the phrase "lobbyist". That is a better description of his role.
In order to decipher Suhel Seth - one has to look at his interests with the beverage industry and his defence of the corporate crimes of Plachimada.
As far as debate and discussion in Parliament is concerned - I agree with you and believe that the Treasury benches did not allow for a complete discussion.
Full disclosure: I did not support the Bandh. At the same time, I believe that the BJP has a right to call for the Bandh. The only disagreement I have in this issue is forcing people to participate in civil disobedience.
Anand - sorry for the very late reply :) ... the link you provided opens up this blog again :). Can you re-post with the correct link?
B k Chowla - thanks for the kind words :)
- Sudhir
Bandhs today serve only the purpose of demonstrating the muscle power! No bandh is in favor of common man
now we are being out of purview of hijacking politics on the base of different propogenda
http://gujarativichar.blogspot.com/2010/10/indian-politics-shunning.html
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