Bengaluru, Aug 18 (FN Representative) India’s Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday said he is not afraid of taking action against Parliament disruptors, but urged them to avoid disruptions and improve the quality of debate in both the houses. “Not that I was afraid to take action. I can take action. If necessary I will also take it. But, the point is, when people of the country see such things on television, they become sad. So, this has to be kept in mind that you are an elected representative.” “Keeping that in mind, I hope in future things will move positively and they will try to improve the quality of debate and discussion and avoid disruption,” he said at an award ceremony here. Naidu presented the Sir M Vishweshwaraiah Memorial Award to Dr MR Jayaram, who is the president of MS Ramaiah Group, at Vidhana Soudha.
Naidu, who is also Rajya Sabha chairman, made these remarks in the wake of continuous disruptions by the Opposition during the monsoon session of the Parliament where they staged protests over the Pegasus snooping row, farm laws and other issues. Naidu had expressed anguish over the washout, with him briefly breaking down in the Rajya Sabha. Protest and dissent are the rights given in a democracy, but one cannot physically force anybody and MPs and MLAs should respect the verdict of the people given to any party. “Protest is the right given to citizens in democracy. Dissent is a right given to citizens in democracy. You agree to disagree, but you cannot physically force anybody, because in democracy what is ultimate is people’s verdict.” “You must respect people’s verdict. To whichever party they have voted for. Democracy means you must respect the majority party and also it should be kept in mind that the majority needs to take minority parties along,” he said.