GUWAHATI, Oct 23 - �In the post-Independence era, India�s experience of parliamentary system can be divided into three phases. The first phase constitutes the early post-Independence decades when the influence of British conventions was predominant and the effort was to assess our functioning. With time, we evolved our practices and laws which were led by the overreaching values enshrined in our Constitution.� This was stated by former President of India Pranab Mukherjee in his Nirmala Debi Memorial Lecture which was read out by Justice (retd) Dr Mukundakam Sharma on his behalf as he could not attend the function.
Justice (retd) Sharma read out the former President�s speech at a function organised by the Pandit Tirthanath Sarma-Nirmala Debi Memorial Trust in collaboration with the Department of Philosophy, Gauhati University at the BKB Auditorium here today. Mukherjee also sent a video clipping to the organisers where he was seen expressing his inability to attend the function.
Elaborating on the different phases of the Indian parliamentary system, Mukherjee said, �Through the 1990s, the second phase of India�s parliamentary system took shape. This was a deeply competitive multi-party coalition stage. It necessitated many changes in the practice of the parliamentary system. The presidential style of the leader of the dominant party could no longer influence the functioning of Parliament.�
The former President further said that the third phase began taking shape when the multi-party system slowly started evolving into a bipolar system wherein two major coalition blocks came into being as manifested in the elections of 2004 and more so, in 2009. �This change became fully perceptible in 2014 with the first clear majority government being elected to power since 1984, and got solidly reaffirmed in the recent Lok Sabha elections,� he added.
Attending the function, Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi presented the Pandit Tirthanath Sarma-Nirmala Debi Memorial Award to Prof Nagen Saikia.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof Mukhi said that the function itself was a very noble occasion organised to pay rich tributes to the literary genius Pandit Tirthanath Sarma and his wife who had immensely contributed to the enrichment of Assam�s literary and academic contour.
He also said that the works of Pandit Tirthanath Sarma who was a well-known scholar and litterateur of Assam, contributed immensely to take the graph of academic development of Assam altogether to a new height.
The Governor however, said that the present generation instead of spending so much of their time for entertaining themselves with movies, video games and the like which do not help in arousing their creativity, should find time to read the literary creations of the great litterateurs of Assam.
Accepting the award, Prof Saikia recalled the contributions of Pandit Tirthanath Sarma and Nirmala Debi to the Assamese society.
The function was attended by Vice Chancellor of Gauhati University Dr Pratap Jyoti Handique; Registrar, GU Dr Nani Gopal Mahanta and a host of other dignitaries.
