A day after Parliament passed the contentious Telangana Bill, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the country had the capacity to rise above partisan politics to enact crucial laws in the national interest.
“The passage of the Telangana Bill indicated that this country can take difficult decisions,” Dr. Singh said in his closing remarks in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the last day of the 15th Lok Sabha. The House was later adjourned sine die.
Dr. Singh hoped that a new sense of consensus would emerge “out of this strife and tension that prevailed in the atmosphere at times.”
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“We are now entering into a phase — a phase of judgment where people will now have an opportunity to judge the performance, weaknesses and achievements of the government in the upcoming election,” he said.
In his speech, Leader of the House Sushilkumar Shinde said members from the government and the Opposition might vociferously vent their differences inside Parliament, but these sentiments were not carried outside.
Appreciating the Opposition, particularly the Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, Mr. Shinde said they took together decisions on a number of landmark laws.
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He also drew the attention of the House over the manner in which the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act was passed unanimously.
“Just one incident shook us so badly and the House passed the Bill. Despite differences we rose to the occasion and passed the Bill with unanimity, which we usually don’t see,” he said.
As she spoke for the last time, Ms. Swaraj praised UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for her gracefulness and BJP leader L.K. Advani, whose eyes welled up, for his judiciousness.
She said when the 15th Lok Sabha’s history was written, it would say that while there were the most interruptions, much-awaited Bills were also passed. Speaker Meira Kumar said she was pained by the frequent disruptions, and hoped that logic would replace pandemonium.