New Delhi: Tuesday was a rather different day in Parliament. There were no adjournments, no walk-outs and Parliamentarians behaved if not impeccably, at least not in a way that would make the Speaker unhappy.
The reason? It was the Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee's birthday. On his seventy-seventh birthday, the Speaker had a only one wish: “I may justify my position.”
When asked if he wanted the House not to be disrupted on his birthday, he said, “I am sure that they know the importance of the House and let all of us work together.”
As Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee wished Chatterjee “Happy Birthday,” he added, “I do hope that my colleagues don't trouble you today.”
But was the Lok Sabha Speaker’s wish granted? Well, the Opposition even contemplating a no confidence against Chaterjee, there might be no love lost between the Opposition and the Speaker.
As the session proceeded, Parliamentarians congratulated the Speaker on the occasion and asked him not to be angry. Too good to be true? The bonhomie, predictably so, didn’t last very long.
The session got noisy and Chatterjee pleaded, “Please conduct in a manner that will maintain our dignity, listen to me. What sort of behaviour is this?"
But it was not that he lost his sense of humour completely. "What is happening? A little bit of nagging is accepted,” he said. To this, Leader of the Opposition, LK Advani replied, “Don’t say that.” This is as good as it gets. Happy Birthday Mr Speaker!
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