Chaos in parliament

 The nonchalant atmosphere of the House disappeared within a matter of minutes after the UNP MPs rose on their feet displaying placards which said ‘shame’ in all the three languages, and the subsequent angry reaction by the government’s back benchers.
 For the first time in recent history, the heads of diplomatic missions based in Colombo, senior public servants and journalists witnessed how intolerance and disrespect for dissent have done a serious assault on the parliamentary democracy here.   For any right thinking individual, it is difficult to justify the smuggling in of posters and banners to the chamber of the House by the UNP as it is not the way expected from them to air out their protest. 
 Yet, the strong arm tactics that the government back benchers used against the opposition members are inexcusable at any cost.
 On that day, it was ruling party MP Lohan Ratwatte  who grabbed the placard held by Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga.  After MP Ratwatte, it was other ruling party legislators who turned violent and tried to manhandle or rough up opposition MPs who were with banners and posters in their hands. At one point, Kegalle district UPFA MP Kanaka Herath struck a blow at UNP MP for the Badulla district Harin Fernando. Most of these MPs, including Mr. Herath who is the son of Sabaragamuwa Chief Minister Mahipala Herath, were young newcomers to Parliament.  These members might have probably thought that they would get into the good books of the President by harassing the UNP members who tried to disturb him during his most important speech in Parliament for the year.  Come what may, the indecent behaviour of members left an indelible black mark on the image of the country. Also, the incident gave credence to the allegations made against the government locally and internationally that democratic rights of people are suppressed under the iron boot of the ruling party. Some heads of diplomatic missions were witness to the scenes on the day. Even worse is the fact that most of these members are young.   The logical question that arises in the minds of right thinking people is whether these members, who slated to take up the political leadership of the country, will one day uphold democracy values. Will they ever be able to give a fair share of hearing to dissent?   Do they rely only on money power and muscle power?
 Probably, these are the questions that baffle believers of democracy in today’s context.  Obviously, with the passage of time, answers will be found to these questions.
 The government and the opposition came up with a mixed reaction to the obscene scene during the debate on the budget later.
 The UNP leadership cited the incident as a breach of privileges of MPs to have a silent protest in the House.  The UNP justified the bringing of posters to the House on the grounds that the government members too brought such items as floral wreaths and coffins to be used in protests on previous occasions.  At the conclusion of the budget debate in 2007, Minister Jagath Pushpakumara brought in a floral wreath and placed it before UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, an act roundly condemned by the then Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara.
 Meanwhile, the government justified last Monday’s assault incident    saying that they too were subject to similar harassment when the UNP was in Power at that time. 
 Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena, in his speech, said, “At that time, UNP MPs hit us with violent blows. I still remember   how I was dragged on the floor. In some cases, the heads of some of our members were injured in such violent attacks. It was the UNP that introduced this violent culture.” 
 The Minister who is the General Secretary of the SLFP never went to condemn the unruly behaviour of his junior colleagues on Monday.
 Both the government and the opposition members who resorted to the blame game while trying to justify each other’s action conveniently forgot one thing.They forgot consciously or unconsciously the fact that if any action is wrong for one faction, it is also wrong for the other faction.
 Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa later vowed to take action against the members involved in Monday’s incident.
Apart from the violent scenes, the budget debate went on as usual with the opposition citing it as a damp squib while the government was referring to it as a people friendly budget. Only a few members representing either side substantiated their arguments with credible facts and figures while the others just used their political rhetoric. 
The budget failed to deliver much anticipated redress for certain sectors such as university academics who have now decided to take trade union action.
 The budget, despite its allocation for the continuation of development projects, is unlikely to generate a groundswell of public support, especially among the urban middle class.  In the budget, there are no concrete proposals to provide employment to the unemployed youths. Nor are there sound proposals to rejuvenate the agriculture and fisheries sectors.