A delegation of Opposition leaders on Thursday, March 27, 2025, met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla over their grievances such as “not allowing” the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, to speak in the House.
| Photo Credit: PTI
A delegation of Opposition leaders on Thursday (March 27, 2025) met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla over their grievances such as “not allowing” the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, to speak in the House, “failure” to elect a Deputy Speaker since 2019, rejection of adjournment motions by the Chair, and reluctance to hold discussions on issues that do not entail voting.
Representatives of parties such as the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Shiv Sena (UBT), Indian Union Muslim League, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and Kerala Congress, met Mr. Birla and submitted a petition raising 12 points.
Congress leaders Gaurav Gogoi, K.C. Venugopal and K. Suresh; Dharmendra Yadav from the SP; Supriya Sule from the NCP(SP); Arvind Sawant from the Shiv Sena UBT and T.R. Baalu from the DMK attended the meeting.
The concerns expressed in the letter included “exclusion” of key Ministries from discussion on Demands for Grants and alleged switching off of microphones of Opposition MPs while raising Points of Order, “interference” of the Speaker’s Office in Parliamentary Standing Committee “compromising its autonomy” by “suggesting corrections” in committee reports and the “pattern” of Sansad TV not showing Opposition MPs.
The meeting comes a day after the Lok Sabha Speaker asked Mr. Gandhi to follow the rules of procedure to uphold the dignity of the House. The Opposition leader responded saying he was not being given a chance to speak in Parliament that was being run in a “non-democratic style”.
‘No specific context’
Mr. Gogoi told presspersons after the meeting that the BJP politicised an observation by the Speaker on Mr. Gandhi but without providing the specific context.
“He made a reference to Rule 349 and said members and the LoP must follow this. What specific incident he was referring to was not clear. There was politicisation and propaganda over the Speaker’s remarks. We apprised the Speaker of how his remarks had been politicised outside,” he said.
He was referring to a video posted by BJP I-T Cell head Amit Malviya on social media, which claimed that the Speaker’s observations were linked to Mr. Gandhi’s show of affection towards his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in the House.
“When the LoP stood up, the House was adjourned. He was not allowed to speak despite his name being taken in the House. The whole country saw it. LoP is a constitutional post, remarks were made about him but he was not allowed to speak. There was no clarity on what incident the Speaker was referring to but the BJP IT cell was politicising the issue”.
“We have given a letter, which was signed by many parties including the RSP and Shiv Sena (UBT). We conveyed our collective concern and collective disappointment before the Speaker on how the ruling side is violating the traditions, rules and culture of the House,” he said.
Affecting neutrality
In their letter, the Opposition MPs said the Constitution mandated the election of a Deputy Speaker, and that the absence of a Deputy Speaker had set a “dangerous precedent”, affecting the neutrality and functioning of the House.
The partiesfound fault with the government “unilaterally” introducing business without prior consultation in the Business Advisory Committee, citing the example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement on Maha Kumbh last week.
The Opposition expressed concern about key Ministries not being chosen for discussion during the Session. The government not agreeing to discussions under Rule 193 which does not entail voting was raised.
Published – March 27, 2025 11:07 pm IST