President Pranab Mukherjee with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Congress leader Karan Singh at the event.
President Pranab Mukherjee has from a public stage reminded the country's lawmakers that they must uphold Parliament's dignity, after members of the Trinamool Congress and the Telugu Desam Party or TDP engaged in an unseemly squabble over a room in Parliament.
"Please, for God's sake, except you nobody can do it. It is our responsibility, we the elected members of both houses including nominated members, to uphold the prestige, dignity and honour of this great, great institution," the President said at a function yesterday, where he gave away awards for the best Parliamentarians. (
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President Mukherjee, who was a member of both houses of Parliament for many years, said the institution symbolises the freedom struggle and "it is the responsibility of every member to uphold its dignity and you have to do it." (
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He said he was touched when Prime Minister Narendra Modi bowed his head at the stairs of Parliament House when he first entered the building after winning the Lok Sabha election. The President said the gesture symbolised the dignity and sanctity of the temple of democracy.
Yesterday, a row erupted between Trinamool and TDP members over room number 5 on the ground floor of Parliament House, seen as prime real estate. The TDP has had the room for many years, but it has now been allotted to Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, the fourth largest contingent in the Lok Sabha.
Nameplates were flung as the MPs from the two parties squabbled, with the TDP refusing to vacate the room.
Among those who received awards for their performance in Parliament were Foreign Minister Arun Jaitley, Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) and the Congress' Karan Singh.