Of marriage and divorce

Marriage and divorce seem to be the favourite analogies of our parliamentarians. Recently, when Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu urged the Opposition to assist the government in clearing the real estate Bill in the Rajya Sabha - where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government is short on numbers - Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) leader K C Tyagi and a few other Opposition members opposed the manner in which the government was pushing through legislation, bypassing parliamentary committees. Naidu, also the parliamentary affairs minister, tried to lighten the mood and urged Tyagi not to appear so grim. Tyagi got up and reminded him that the BJP and JD(U) had been allies earlier. "I wish to tell the minister that I still look upon him with great affection," he said. "Our 'talaq' (divorce) involved no charges of cruelty, nor did it involve any verbal slanging matches. In fact, the customary 'iddat' (waiting period) after a divorce is not over yet. So, it is not right to say that I am looking at you with malice."