Disgrace to Tamil Nadu

The members of all political parties in both Houses of Parliament- Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha- senior Parliament staff and officials must be wondering whether the people of Tamil Nadu elected ‘members’ to Lok Sabha or sent ‘numbers’ to represent the State.
Tamil Nadu has the history of sending acclaimed and distinguished Parliamentarians to both Houses of Parliament like Arignar Anna, Murasoli Maran, Nanjil K.Manoharan, C.Subramaniam, Era Chezhiyan, P.Ramamurthy, K.Anadan Nambiar, S.S.Marisamy, R.K.Shanmugam Chettiar, T.S.Avinashilingam Chettiar, P.Chidambaram, Manishankar Iyer et al.
But what is the situation now with the electorate in the State preferred to send 37 members to the Lok Sabha from the ADMK? How do they participate in debates on various issues in the House?
Just like the ADMK legislators and Ministers in Tamil Nadu Assembly take almost 99 percent of the time allocated to them for singing paeans for their leader ‘Amma’, the ADMK members if both Houses of Parliament also sing in praise of their leader (that too in Tamil, texts purchased by them from hired writers, who camp in lodges in Royapettah and Chepauk for serving ADMK Ministers, MLAs and now MPs) to the amusement of other members and Ministers in Parliament. As a result, most of what they regurgitate from the prepared texts are not noticed by either the Ministers concerned or members of other parties. Even the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites which provide the proceedings and speeches of members verbatim could not provide most parts of what they read out. In the olden days, members of Parliament were not permitted to read from texts and records and speak extempore handing over such matters to the presiding officer.
 For instance, the ADMK members evoke derisive laughter in Lok Sabha on August 8. The ADMK salutation “Puratchithalaivi Tamil Tai Amma” seemed to have caught the imagination of the Lok Sabha. There were some moments of derisive laughter in the Lower House on Aug 8 after an ADMK member quintessentially began his question on import of Chinese goods with “Puratchithalaivi Tamil Tai Amma”.
As if participating in the collective mirth of the House, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman replied in the same vein in Tamil saying “Puraichithalaivi Amma’s” letter had been received and government was working on it. The members were wondering whether she used the epithet seriously or sarcastically to have a dig at the ADMK members, who took much of their time in salutation of their leader.
The entire House, from Treasury to Opposition benches, started thumping the desk and ridiculously chanting “Amma Amma”. This was, perhaps, the first instance when a Minister had replied to a question in Tamil in the House.
ADMK MP T Radhakrishnan, speaking in Tamil, had raised the matter of Chinese crackers being brought illegally into India harming the domestic industry in Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu that virtually caters to the entire demand of firecrackers in the country. He referred to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s letters to the Centre in this regard and wanted to know what action has been taken.
And in another faux pas an ADMK MP delivered wrong speech possibly because he brought the prepared text meant for some other topic. The Lok Sabha on Aug 14 witnessed much mirth when this ADMK member delivered (rather read out) a speech on communal violence when asked to speak on the Apprentices Act.
Was it sheer inexperience, failure to follow the House proceedings or the overwhelming desire to praise ‘Puratchi Thalaivi’ Jayalalitha that prompted ADMK MP K. Parasuraman to speak on a matter entirely unrelated to the discussion on the Apprentices (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha on Aug 14?
While none perhaps may know which of these three factors influenced the first-time MP’s decision to hold forth on the steps taken by ‘Amma’ to check communal violence in Tamil Nadu, it did leave the House amused. Parasuraman who has been elected from the Thanjavur Lok Sabha spoke in Tamil from a written text. And regardless of the issue being discussed, he waxed eloquent on the steps taken by ‘Amma’ to ensure no communal incidents take place in the State. In his brief speech, the MP managed to invoke ‘Amma’ no less than six times. Oddly, he was allowed to complete his speech by Deputy Speaker M.Thambidurai who incidentally also belongs to the ADMK. To be fair to Thambidurai, he did tell the ADMK MP to speak on the Apprentices Bill. But the Deputy Speaker’s directive clearly had little impact on Parasuraman who rambled on with his paean to Amma. However, once Parasuraman completed his speech and sat down, it seemed there was consternation about his faux pas even among his fellow party MPs.
The interesting bit was that not many MPs realized that the ADMK member K Parasuraman was off target, not just because he spoke in Tamil but also because his address was full of praise for their party chief Jayalalitha which is a common ADMK refrain irrespective of the subject at hand.
It was much later, when he spoke about law and order and peaceful existence of social groups under the ADMK Chief Minister, that BJP members laughingly objected to the Chair, asking “where is Apprentices Act in this speech?“ At that moment, ADMK leader and Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai was officiating the proceedings and feeling embarrassed but at the same time afraid of stopping his colleague’s out-of-context praise for their leader, he mildly asked the member to speak on industry and apprentices. A harried Parasuraman thanked the Chair and took his seat possibly because the prepared text in his possession did not deal with the subject.
TMC member Saugata Roy was found talking to him later, apparently telling him about his faux pas.
To be fair unto them, the ADMK members of Parliament could not entirely be blamed for the disgrace they had brought to Tamil Nadu. Even after witnessing three years of the proceedings of Tamil Nadu Assembly brought to ridiculously low levels under the present ADMK regime, if the people had chosen to send that party’s MPs to the Lok Sabha, only they have to be blamed!