Union Home Minister Amit Shah is set to address the Lok Sabha during the debate on a motion to remove Speaker Om Birla. The motion, moved by Congress and supported by over 100 MPs, alleges 'partisan behaviour' and has sparked heated debates.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will address the Lok Sabha on Wednesday during the debate on the motion seeking the removal of Speaker Om Birla. The motion was moved by Congress MP Mohammad Jawed, with more than 50 MPs standing in support of the resolution.
BJP MP Jagdambika Pal, who was in the Chair, granted leave to move the motion and announced that 10 hours had been allotted for debate, and asked MPs to stick to the resolution. He said that the Speaker was generous with the permissions and procedure for the Opposition resolution. A total of 118 Opposition MPs signed the resolution, alleging "partisan behaviour" by the Speaker.
Opposition Alleges 'Partisan Behaviour'
The discussion on the no-confidence motion began on Tuesday with sharp exchanges over procedure, including objections from AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi and Congress MP KC Venugopal, who said that the House should elect a member who would preside over the debate. They questioned how the choice was made of who would be in the Chair from the panel of Chairpersons. However, BJP leaders rejected these objections. Former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey termed the Opposition's arguments "baseless".
Initiating the debate, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said the resolution was meant to safeguard parliamentary dignity and was not driven by personal animosity. "This resolution has been brought as a responsibility to protect the dignity of the House, not personally against Om Birla," Gogoi said. He also took a swipe at Rijiju, remarking that parliamentary records would show the minister frequently interrupting Opposition members. "In the future, when research is done on parliamentary records and transcripts, statistics will show that Kiren Rijiju was the Parliamentary Affairs Minister who interrupted the Opposition the most," he said.
Gogoi said that part of the Motion states that the Speaker of the Lok Sabha "has ceased to maintain the impartial attitude necessary to command the confidence of all sections of the House; that, in his partisan conduct, he disregards the rights of Members and makes pronouncements and rulings calculated to affect and undermine those rights; and that he espouses the version of the ruling party on controversial matters".
Government Rejects Allegations
In his remarks, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and said he has "no cure" if one believes themselves to be above the Speaker in the House. "When you look at the Constitution and the rules of the house, no one has challenged any decision of the Speaker. That day I was upset for the fact that the Opposition MP said that 'I do not need permission from anyone to speak in Parliament', this is on record. 'This is my right to speak in Parliament', our Leader of Opposition said this. So I was thinking, there are many senior members in Congress, why did they not explain that in this House, PM, minister, LoP can be present but one needs permission from speaker to speak," Rijiju said.
He suggested that Congress could have chosen Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as its leader in the House. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra hit back at Rijiju and said Rahul Gandhi makes fearless attacks on the government on issues concerning people. "There is only one person in the country who has not bowed down before them in the last 12 years. It is the Leader of the Opposition. They cannot digest the truth he speaks," she said. (ANI)
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