Should Parliament sessions be held in South India too? This YSR Congress MP’s letter to PM Modi triggers debate

YSR Congress Member of Parliament (MP), Maddila Gurumoorthy recently urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to hold two parliamentary sessions annually in South India.

The Tirupati MP said this would bring Parliament 'closer to the people of the region', and foster a greater sense of inclusion besides reducing the logistical and climatic challenges faced in the national capital.

"The climate in Delhi during these seasons severely impacts daily functioning of Parliament. Harsh winter chills and scorching summer heat make it increasingly difficult for MPs to work efficiently, not to mention the detrimental effects on overall quality of life in the city," the MP said in the November 28 letter addressed to PM Modi.

Gurumoorthy's letter comes in the middle of the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament that began on November 25.

“The core thought behind this initiative is to allow for more peaceful and productive sessions in a region with a more favourable climate, ensuring smooth legislative process,” reads the letter adding that the move would also serve as a "symbolic gesture of national unity and decentralisation, showing that the Parliament is truly a body that represents the country, not just its capital".

Gurumoorthy cites in the letter that in the past, Dr BR Ambedkar and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had been part of suggestions on holding Parliament sessions outside of Delhi.

In November 1959, Independent Gurgaon MP Prakash Vir Shastri had in a Private Member’s Bill proposed to hold one session of the Lok Sabha in South India annually. Vajpayee, then a Bharatiya Jan Sangh MP, had backed the proposal, saying it shouldn’t be looked at through a political prism.

Ambedkar had proposed two capitals in his book Thoughts on Linguistic States. He had said Delhi is most inconvenient to the people of the South. as they suffer from cold and distance. Ambedkar had argued that people in the South feel their Capital is far away and that they feel they are being ruled by the North.

‘Very tedious and waste of time'

BJP's Mysuru MP, Yaduveer Wadiyar has, however, dismissed the proposal saying that it would be ‘very tedious’ and a ‘waste of time.’

"In a democratic set-up we (the ruling party) welcome all suggestions but, in his case, the exercise will be very tedious. Moving the capital city, including parliamentary machinery and infrastructure, all the way down to the south will be very cumbersome," Wadiyar was quoted as saying by news channel NDTV.

While acknowledging that such a measure had been suggested by Ambedkar and Vajpayee, as mentioned in Gurumoorthy's letter , Wadiyar said that proposal was made when "we were still understanding how the country should work".

Parliament has functioned in Delhi for over 75 years and that has not taken away from integration of the southern states into the Union of India, the Mysuru MP told NDTV.