Not in my name! Not in our name! Honourable Prime Minister Mr Modi and Honourable Home Minister Mr Amit Shah, the unfortunate game being played in the people's Parliament of the 'Mother of Democracies' is not in our name! Not in the name of those who sent our elected representatives to the Indian Parliament.

You are all honourable men, you and the bulldozer majority of your MPs who are determined to actualise an opposition-mukt Bharat after trying to actualise a Congress-mukt Bharat, a Nehru-Gandhi-mukt Bharat, a free press-mukt Bharat! The manner in which 146 people's elected representatives have been ejected from both Houses of Parliament so far is undoubtedly not in our name, i.e., not in the name of a few crore voters who elected our representatives as Members of Parliament.

Mr Modi, you have praised our democracy to the skies as the 'Mother of all Democracies.' In September 2021, at the UN General Assembly, you waxed eloquent by terming India the "Mother of all Democracies" and launched a defence of the state of democracy in India. And, yet, you and your government have wielded your axe of naked power on our representatives whose fault was exercising their democratic rights. They exercise their functions in our name as they are elected to represent our cause. That duty/power is their constitutional right and duty. To ask questions in the 'Temple of Democracy.' To suggest points that the governing party needs to take note of. To point out the need for better implementation of projects and programmes. To remind the government of its duty to fulfil promises made to the electorate and the nation. To tell the government that the nation's citizens cannot be fooled by 'jumlas' and political 'revadies'! Even to demand accountability from the government when it is seen to err. To question the validity of legislation that looks anti-people.

What is wrong with insisting that the Prime Minister or the Home Minister answer questions put to them by the members of the Parliament. It is unimaginable and also undemocratic to throw out our representatives for asking questions.

Is it a criminal breach for MPs to demand a discussion on the security breach in the Parliament? Don't the MPs enjoy immunity for their statements or remarks in Parliament? How undemocratic is it to place a demand for a particular discussion or a call for the attendance of the Home Minister to answer questions? What a world we are living in! Is our democratic set-up being converted into authoritarian, autocratic and dictatorial? The nation wants to know! Let not the country be dragged into the quagmire of peevish fundamentalism or authoritarian autocracy.

Coming to the mimicry episode in the Parliament. Seeing our elected representatives act like monkeys by imitating or mimicking other members mockingly is not a happy sight. We have often noticed such stupid mimicry from many members of different parties. Even you, Mr Prime Minister, are not to be absolved. Recall the way you insulted Mrs Sonia Gandhi by abusively naming her a widow of the Congress Party. It was an insult to her late husband, Rajiv Gandhi, and the Gandhi-Nehru family. One wonders what made you stoop so low to make such nauseating remarks. Yet you went scott-free. In an Indian home, a widow is not an outcast. She is supposed to have a respectable place in the family.

Jairam Ramesh of the Congress Party points out your mimicry of Rahul Gandhi's speech in Parliament. Watching that video, Mr Prime Minister, I personally found it abominably nauseating. I wondered how my Prime Minister, leading the 'Mother of all Democracies', could go so low to hit Rahul Gandhi below the belt.

How is it that TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee deserved an FIR for an act that could have been written off with a warning? Dhankhar Saheb could have honourably written it off with magnanimity, as a theatrical, like Vajpayee and Lalu Prasad Yadav, who were the butt of people's jokes.
Men who climb great heights of honour in public life need to have the greatness to forgive and forget the inanities and trivialities of others. But, instead, Mr Dhankhar chose to misconstrue it into a 'jat' insult, which excited the whole BJP faction waiting to jump onto the bandwagon in a flurry.
Under Art. 380 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, the Presiding officer could have very well expunged Banerjee's mimicry as parliamentary.

Senior Congress leader Chidambaram deplores the emergence of caste mentions in the Parliament in the 21st century. "It is disappointing to note that 'caste' is brought into a serious debate on an important subject. It is also disappointing that the 'place of birth' of an individual is used as an argument to criticise the individual... Can we move beyond these narrow identities and embrace the norms and values of humanity in the 21st century?"

"The government wants a question-free media, an opposition-free Parliament and an obstacle-free path", says Manoj Jha, RJD MP, in an interview with the Wire. He laments the state of affairs in the nation as being dragged into a 'police state and autocracy.' Such a national situation is not in our name. Take note, you political leaders who have taken solemn vows under the Constitution to lead the nation by honouring the democratic principles and values.

It is not in our name that you have brazenly passed legislations having bracketed out, frankly, expelled, our elected representatives. You may think that you have put them on the road to oblivion. But be sure, they will bounce back with greater boldness and urgency to turn the tables and clean the Augean stables!