The Indian Lok Sabha speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, left Dhaka Monday after a three day visit. Deputy Speaker of Bangladesh parliament Shawkat Ali saw him off at the Zia International Airport this morning. He arrived in Dhaka on Saturday last to attend an orientation program sponsored by NDI for the newly elected Members of Parliament of Bangladesh.
On Sunday, as chief international guest, Somnath Chatterjee was addressing the inaugural ceremony of a four-day orientation course for the new members of the 9th parliament most of whom are first timers, coming up after a two-year long military backed emergency regime.
Chatterjee, in his speech, emphasized maintaining good understanding between the ruling and opposition parties in parliament. Opposition is a pivotal pillar parliament, he added. 'In parliamentary democracy, the role of the opposition party is very much important. Democracy works effectively in that system where opposition is strong and careful,' the veteran Indian parliamentarian said to the audience, who were mostly newly elected MPs to the 9th parliament of Bangladesh.
Somnath Chatterjee noted that the government is mandated to rule the country while the opposition party’s duty is to play the watchdog keeping a sharp eye on government activities.
The speaker of the world’s largest democracy mentioned that opposition for the sake of opposition is not expected in parliamentary democracy. Constructive criticism and alternative proposals by the opposition will accelerate the advancement of democracy, he farther said.
Chatterjee told the new MPs that delivering speech in political rallies and in parliament is not the same thing. ‘In parliamentary talk MPs speech will have to be full of authentic information and wisdom which should influence government policy and enactment of laws,’ he said.
Somnath Chatterjee informed the parliamentarians of Bangladesh that Indian MPs have various forums on climate change, child and maternal health, water crisis, and such forums help the MPs know the problems in detail and suggest the parliament to enact necessary laws and take steps for people’s development.
Indian Lok Sabha speaker also met the president, the prime minister, the speaker of the parliament of Bangladesh and Dr Muhammad Yunus during his three-day stay.
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