Why is Parliament so shy of discussing judiciary, media & sex, DP Tripathi had wondered

A former President of JNU Students’ Union, a former member of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) , a socialist, former Rajya Sabha member and general secretary of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), DP Tripathi passed away in Delhi on Thursday.

An erudite, well-read man, he was known to quote effortlessly from the works of poets, writers and philosophers. A man with remarkable memory, he would remember lines from speeches made in Parliament and outside.

People from the media and political parties would call on him to understand political currents and undercurrents. He had a special relationship with political leaders from Nepal and worked for Indo-Nepal friendship till the very end.

Above all, he was an outspoken person, who never failed to surprise with his ideas. Delivering his last farewell speech in the Rajya Sabha in 2018, DPT wondered why the Indian Parliament never debated on the judiciary, media, women and sex.

Citing a report he said that a million young Indians would die in the next 10 years of sexual diseases but the Indian Parliament refused to discuss sex. He recalled that Mahatma Gandhi and even socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia had written candidly on sex.

He believed that a civilised nation is known by its criminal justice system. And he worried that the system in India was broken. Criminals were not afraid of the law, he said in the House in 2014, and while Parliament incessantly discussed the decline of democracy, it had no time to discuss the decline of the judiciary.

In the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address to Parliament in June, 2014, DPT did not mince his words. While the Prime Minister and other speakers were all referring to a superlative India ( Ek Bharat-Shresth Bharat) , nobody spoke of a ‘ Sabhya Bharat’ ( civilised India). India, he said, could not call itself civilised unless it stopped unimaginable atrocities on children. No country could call itself civilised by torturing and criminalising children, he quipped.

The President’s address in June, 2014, he pointed out, had for the first time after Independence, included all the slogans that the ruling party had used in the election campaign. The only slogan missing from the Presidential address, he quipped, was ‘ Ab Ki Baar, Modi Sarkar”.

It was nice to be optimistic and positive about the future, he declared while referring to the Prime Minister’s speech. But, he added, the best way to plan was to think of the worst. While an optimist invented the aeroplane, the pessimist invented the parachute.

In his remarkably prescient speech in the Rajya Sabha in 2014, he pointed out that in a democracy, nobody had a monopoly over power. While the Government must have its way, he added in 2018, the opposition must have its say.

He had ended his farewell speech by telling the House that the country would prosper only if there were social consensus and cohesion—words which sound prophetic two years later. A public figure like DPT was needed more than ever in 2020, when he was snatched away.

The links to his two remarkable speeches in the Rajya Sabha, one from 2014 and another from 2018, are here:

Condolence messages poured in as leaders across party lines remembered him as a guide, mentor and friend. NCP leader Supriya Sule said Tripathi had always been a guide and counsel to party leaders.

"Deeply Saddened to hear about the demise of Shri. D.P Tripathi Ji. He was the General Secretary of NCP and a guide and mentor to all of us. We will miss his wise counsel and guidance which he had given us from the day NCP was established.”

Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar recalled how he would discuss world affairs with the senior NCP leader. "Deeply grieved to learn of the passing away of DP Tripathi. Since 1973, when we joined JNU, have discussed and debated the world with him. Always open-minded and pragmatic. Will miss him very much," he tweeted.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury recalled Tripathi as a "fellow traveller" and said he will be missed. "Comrade, Fellow-student, Fellow-traveller and much more. From University and right until his last days we spoke, argued, disagreed, and learnt so much together. You will be missed, my friend. Deepest condolences," he said in a tweet.

Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary recalled 'DPT' as an orator and a fighter. " Tripathi-ji was always good counsel and a man who kept promises and maintained relationships," he said. Congress leader Manish Tiwari remembered him as a "friend, philosopher and guide".

"My friend philosopher and guide the irrepressible, irreverent, incisive and intellectual DP Tripathi is no more. RIP Professor you have left us when this nation perhaps needed you most," he tweeted.

With PTI inputs