Four interruptions, two pigeons, one cat and the last-minute deletion of a line added colour to an otherwise sedate address by President Shankar Dayal Sharma to both Houses of Parliament on the opening day of the budget session here yesterday.
There were few vacant places in the high-domed Central Hall, but some of galleries meant for visitors were empty. Perhaps given the compulsions in which the United Front government is functioning and the mentions made in the address, there were few occasions when MPs thumped their desks in approbation.
There were however, as many occasions when Sharma was interrupted. As soon as he began, senior Congress leader from Tripura Sudhir Ranjan Mazumdar raised the recent incidents of massacre of non-tribals in the state. Later, Shafiq-ur Rehman Barq of the Samajwadi Party demanded a better deal for minorities and the release of TADA detenus.
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Rita Verma (BJP) and Mamta Bannerjee (Cong) raised their voices when Sharma mentioned the bill providing reservation for women in legislatures. Towards the end of the address, Bannerjee once again interrupted, this time protesting against the absence of any mention of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in the address.
Copies of the address were available as soon as Sharma began reading. However, the copies were soon rounded up and made available again after a line was blacked out.
By then many copies with the undeleted line had already made their way to newsmen. Indirectly, the line criticised the Congress for its alleged failures in the past.
In the rows, MPs shared seats with colleagues belonging to rival parties. A front bench with four seats had Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Atal Behari Vajpayee, leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Sikandar Bakht and Congress parliamentary party leader Sitaram Kesari.
Throughout the address, Kesaris actions fluctuated between contemplating his nails, holding the chin on his palm, constantly tapping his right foot and casting furtive glances at Gowda, who was seen dozing off for some time. On another bench in the front rows, a wall appeared to separate each of the three MPs: Congress leaders Sharad Pawar, S B Chavan and CPI(M) leader Somnath Chatterjee.
Towards the back-benches, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi was seen chatting away for most of the time with three MPs. Senior Congress leader P V Narasimha Rao was conspicuous by his absence. The two newly-elected MPs-Sunderlal Patwa and Ajit Singh-were also present.
Old-timers recalled that in the Central Hallthe venue of historic meetings since Independence-the white Gandhi topi(cap) used to be very much in vogue. However, yesterday there were only four MPs who sported it. These included Kesari and Shafiq-ur Rehman Barq.S S Ahluwalia of the Congress appeared to be out to prove that saffron is not the monopoly of the BJP members alone, by sporting a bright saffron turban.
Deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha Najma Heptullah turned up in a light blue sari with a matching shawl while Vyjayantimala sported a red, orange and green sari.
During the address, two pigeons made a round of the high-domed ceiling while around the same time, a cat appeared from one of the corners to make a dash for the other end.