Thiruvananthapuram: The Opposition UDF has finally hit upon a strategy to outfox Speaker A N Shamseer. Whenever the Opposition members attempted to disrupt the House, Shamseer's trick was to behave like they don't exist. It is usual for him to imperiously ignore the Opposition's rants coming literally from right under his nose and conduct the day's business as if nothing had happened.
After a while, in danger of losing even the last scraps of dignity, the weakened UDF protesters will have no choice but to loudly proclaim a walk out and troop out of the House to the accompaniments of loud jeering and insulting comments of the ruling side.
It was only the previous day, on March 13, the UDF had to surrender in such a meek fashion. Towards the fag end of Opposition Leader V D Satheesan's walk out speech over the Brahmapuram fire issue on that day, the UDF members rushed to the bottom of the Speaker's dais shouting slogans, holding placards and unfurling a banner right across the Speaker's field of vision.
The Speaker asked them to behave and not to block his view. But when it was clear that the UDF was intent on disrupting the proceedings, he went ahead with the day's business unmindful of the shouts.
Speaker Shamseer has never been in a hurry. His immediate predecessors like P Sreeramakrishnan and M B Rajesh had the habit of putting the Assembly proceedings in a fast forward mode right when the Opposition unrest begins. Proceedings are guillotined and the day is wound up in a flash, like in a time-lapse video.
Shamseer, on the other hand, has always seemed impervious to Opposition mutiny. Even when the Opposition threatens to shout the House down, he lets the business unwind in its own 'test cricket' time. No part of the proceedings are truncated.
A Speaker who cannot be rattled is an Opposition nightmare. In the little while he has been Speaker, he has thrown innumerable provocations at the UDF. This session, he had refused to entertain adjournment motions moved by them for three consecutive days, something no speaker has done before.
On Tuesday, March 14, Shamseer rejected yet another adjournment motion moved by the UDF, by Congress legislator Roji M John on what he termed the police atrocity on Kochi Corporation's UDF councillors on March 13.
"There are 900 odd local bodies in Kerala and the Assembly cannot be expected to discuss the problems that erupt in them," the Speaker said, refusing Roji the permission to even move the motion.
As expected, the UDF legislators rushed towards the Speaker's dais. There was sloganeering, waving of banners and the latest UDF innovation of erecting a black banner to block the Speaker's view.
The UDF members looked unusually aggressive, some were seen trying to climb the wooden frame to shout right on the Speaker's face.
Like a stern no-nonsense teacher, Shamseer was heard reprimanding them. He called each one by name - Saneesh Kumar Joseph, Roji, Shafi Parambil, A K M Ashraf - and told them that the people in their constituencies were watching them. Like any stern teacher, Shamseer even tried to shame them. "Many of you had won by a narrow margin," he told them. "Shafi, you are going to lose next time," he said.
After these ritual attempts to discipline the mutinous members, Shamseer fell back into his zen zone. He resumed business like it was a calm peaceful day.
The Opposition continued their shouting and sloganeering. The Speaker sat unmoving. On occassions, he warned UDF MLAs of "stringent action" if they continue to block his view. The UDF went on with its unruly ways and the Speaker sat back and controlled the ruling side of the House as if the other side did not matter.
It looked like the UDF would soon have to beat a retreat, like they did the previous day and many days before.
Instead, the Opposition sprang a surprise. Initially, when the UDF members started pulling back from the Speaker's dais it seemed as if, defeated by the Speaker's indifference, they were about to stage a weak walk out.
As it turned out, they filed back to the U-shaped open space in front of the horseshoe shaped seating arrangement. And there, right in the well of the house and sandwiched between the ruling members and the Speaker, the UDF staged a parallel Assembly session, where Roji M John presented his case.
The Opposition members sat down in a U-shape, mimicking the House arrangement, and Roji stood at the centre addressing them. By then in the de jure Assembly, Budget discussion had begun.
From then on, both the speeches went parallel. Since only the ruling side had the mike, only they could be heard. After Roji, more UDF members came forward and addressed their parallel gathering. They kept applauding their speakers and making noises of approval.
The UDF assembly was clearly a distraction. The ruling front was provoked, but seniors reined in the aggressive backbenchers from unleashing angry retaliatory moves.
Whenever irritated and angry shouts rose from the ruling side, the Speaker silenced them. It was as if even this UDF protest experiment was not happening at all. Even when LDF members pointed that such an action of disrupting Assembly speeches was a violation of Assembly Rules and that punitive measures should be taken, the Speaker seemed least bothered.
However, it was difficult for the LDF members to hold back their exasperation. One of the LDF speakers, CPM's Malampuzha MLA M Prabhakaran, was heard complaining that he could not concentrate in the racket created by the UDF. Eravipuram MLA Noushad called the UDF MLA's "detestable beings" ('nikrishtajeevikal'). The UDF parallel Assembly continued unperturbed for over 45 minutes.
