Unruly behaviour, disruptions lower dignity of assemblies, Parl: Birla

MUMBAI: Voicing concern over disruptions in assemblies and Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday said it was important to find solutions to problems through dialogue and discussion to uphold people's trust in democratic institutions.

Inaugurating the first National Legislators' Conference here, Birla said the declining number of sittings of assemblies and Parliament, increasing indiscipline among members and lowering the dignity of the House have always been matters of concern for the presiding officers.

''There can be differences of opinion as legislators belong to different political parties, but not discussing laws, issues and policies does not augur well for democracy,'' Birla said at the conference attended by presiding officers and legislators from across the country.

Birla said legislators should maintain high standards of discipline and decency as indecent and unruly behaviours tarnish their image.

''Uproar, sloganeering and adjournment of the House in a planned manner are not appropriate for the democratic system. There is also a growing tendency to tear parliamentary papers,'' Birla said.

He said it was the collective responsibility of the legislators to uphold the dignity of the House, which is revered as temple of democracy.

''When we are elected as legislators, we are no longer limited to the party we belong to. We are representatives of the entire electorate," Birla said.

Birla said legislators should set high standards of integrity in public life and instil credibility and trust among people by their conduct and actions.

Former Lok Sabha speakers Shivraj Patil, Meira Kumar and Sumitra Mahajan were also present at the conference and shared concerns voiced by Birla.

In his address to the conference, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stressed on the need to increase the number of sittings of the state assemblies to make them more accountable to the people.

Nearly 2,000 legislators from across the country are attending the three-day conference organised by MIT-School of Governance, a private education institution in Maharashtra.

The logo of the conference uses a pictorial representation of the new Parliament building, the first such instance since its inauguration on May 28.