Author: Seema Mustafa
Publication: The Asian Age
Date: December 16, 2004
"Is the government aware that the
government of the United States of America has circulated a document earlier
which seeks to alienate the north-eastern region from the country?" The
question by Dr Vijay Mallya was listed for discussion in Question Hour
in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, but was suddenly pulled out of the list
of starred questions and placed in the unstarred category.
Why? Because it exceeded the 100-word
limit by 24 words. Or so was the official explanation. When contacted,
Dr Mallya said that after being told that the question had been struck
off the starred list, he had counted the words and that they amounted to
only 78 words.
The technicality has ensured that
the question seeking an answer from the external affairs minister on the
United States' role in the Northeast will not be discussed in the House.
Four other MPs, Mr Rajeev Shukla, Mr Tariq Anwar, Mr Rajkumar Dhoot and
Mr Gireesh Kumar Sanghi, were listed to ask supplementaries that would
have ensured a fairly substantive discussion on the issue in the Rajya
Sabha. Sources said the ministries of home and external affairs were not
very happy with the question, deeming it to be "too sensitive" for a detailed
discussion in the House.
Dr Mallya's question had four parts.
One, "whether it was a fact that the US ambassador had recently offered
the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate the
serial blasts in the north-eastern states." Reports of this have been carried
by the media. Two, whether a similar offer had been received from European
countries. Three, whether the government was aware about the US document
on the Northeast. And four, whether the government has taken a view of
this offer of assistance keeping in view the security of the country.
The MP had asked for details, and
as per the rules of Question Hour, would have been allowed two supplementaries
following the minister's reply. This would then have been followed by four
more questions from the other MPs on this controversial issue of US interest,
and possible intervention, in the north-eastern region. The official explanation,
citing the technicality of the word limit, was forthcoming only on Wednesday.
In the unstarred list, the question will be treated summarily with a written
response from the government. This will leave no room for further questions
and will also, in all likelihood, remain out of the public eye. This is
largely because the media does not pick up unstarred questions for reporting,
more so as the government's replies are typically very brief and without
any details.
One of the MPs listed for the supplementary
did not even have an idea that the question had been dropped from the starred
list. When asked about this, he said, "I did not even know. I will find
out tomorrow what has happened." He was also of the view that the official
reason for striking the question off the starred list was "very strange".
He said that the 100-word limit was intended as a guideline so that MPs
did not place unnecessarily lengthy questions, but that it was strange
that a question was removed just because they thought it contained 24 extra
words.
