Birla Asks Rahul to Uphold Dignity of the House

 New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday asked Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi to follow the rules of procedure that members are expected to observe to uphold the dignity of the House. Gandhi claimed that he was not being given a chance to speak in the House which was being run in a “non-democratic style” and alleged that Biral made “unsubstantiated” remarks about him.

It was not immediately clear what the reason was for the Speaker to make the observation. However, Birla pointed out that several instances have come to his notice where the conduct of members does not conform to the “high standards”. He said, “In this House, father and daughter, mother and daughter, husband and wife have been members. In this context, I expect the Leader of the Opposition to conduct himself in accordance with Rule 349 that deals with rules to be observed by members in the House.”

On his part, Gandhi said that the Speaker made remarks about him and then adjourned the House without giving him an opportunity to speak. “The Speaker just got up and left. He did not allow me to speak a word. He was speaking about me and I don’t know what he said about me… all unsubstantiated. I said let me speak, as you have spoken about me, but he did not say a word and just left. The Speaker just ran away and adjourned the House,” he said.

Later, about 70 Congress Lok Sabha MPs, including deputy leader of Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, party general secretary K.C. Venugopal and party whip in the Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore, met the Lok Sabha Speaker and raised the “denial” of opportunity to Gandhi to speak in the House.

Interacting with the media in Parliament House Complex later, Gandhi said that the Speaker made remarks about him and then adjourned the House without giving him an opportunity to speak.

“The Speaker just got up and left. He did not allow me to speak a word… He adjourned the House when there was no need of it,” Gandhi said.

Gandhi pointed out that there is a convention that the Leader of the Opposition is allowed to speak, but whenever he gets up to speak, he is not allowed to speak. “So, in what manner is this House being run? We are not allowed to speak. I have not done anything… I was sitting quietly… I did not say anything. In the last 7-8 days, I have not been allowed to speak,” he said while adding that in a democracy, the Opposition has a place and the government has its own place, but here there is no place for the Opposition.

Gandhi said that he wanted to speak on Maha Kumbh last week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a statement on it, but he was not allowed to speak. “I wanted to state that it is good that Kumbh happened… I wanted to speak about unemployment, but I was not allowed to speak. I don’t know what thinking or approach the Speaker has, but the truth is we are not being allowed to speak. It (the House) is being run in a non-democratic style,” the Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition said.