Last week, several heated exchanges took place between the Opposition and Birla after the Speaker didn’t allow Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi to quote from or speak about former Indian Army Chief General M M Naravane’s unpublished memoir. The Opposition boycotted proceedings after Gandhi was not allowed to quote from the memoir.

A source told The Indian Express that Opposition leaders discussed a few charges against Birla during a meeting and will include them in their motion.

?The first being that the LOP was not allowed to speak, and Nishikant Dubey was allowed to say vile things in the House. Second, Birla said in the House that he had received information that Prime Minister Narendra Modi might be attacked, and had asked the PM not to come to the House. Then what Birla said about female MPs planning an attack on the PM in the House. We have had issues with Birla. He is not giving the Opposition space in the house,? said the source.

According to the source, women MPs from the Opposition have written to the Speaker in response to his allegations against them.

?Parliament is meant only for the ruling party?

Congress leader K C Venugopal said incidents in Parliament were ?very unfortunate”. “We all know the space and role of the Opposition in parliamentary democracy. The Leader of Opposition acts as a shadow Prime Minister. But in this Parliament when the Leader of Opposition stands up to say something the mic gets switched off. In fact, nobody from the Opposition gets time to speak?.

?This Parliament has become a place where the Opposition has no voice. This Parliament is meant only for the ruling party. Even this morning, all the Opposition parties decided to raise this concern together in Lok Sabha. This has become a one-sided Parliament,” said Venugopal.

The senior Congress leader accused the government of taking a ?number of decisions against the interest of this country?.

?The Opposition has a responsibility to expose this government, which is possible only through debates. But we are not allowed to speak. The other day, the Speaker raised a very serious allegation against women. I do not understand this. The Prime Minister, who has boasted of a 54-inch chest, did not come to Parliament because he was scared of some women members. The Speaker said so. Was there anything like that?? he asked.

?In Parliament, many disruptions had happened. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was not allowed to speak. Now, when such a statement comes from the Speaker, shouldn’t we get an explanation? What did the Speaker mean by that statement? Did he have any records? Any evidence? The Speaker who’s not supposed to take sides is now doing so”.

What happened in Lok Sabha?

Last Wednesday, for the second straight day, Gandhi tried to quote or speak about the former Army chief Naravane’s unpublished memoir to target the Modi government over a military face-off with China in eastern Ladakh in August 2020.

As Gandhi repeatedly attempted to raise the issue of national security in the context of excerpts from the book, Four Stars of Destiny, published in a recent essay in The Caravan magazine, the Chair cut short his speech for ignoring its directions not to do so and called on the next speaker.

In protest, the Opposition MPs entered the Well and threw papers at the Speaker’s podium, leading to the suspension of eight Lok Sabha MPs.

Sources said the decision was made at the INDIA bloc floor leaders? meeting on Monday, with Gandhi and Rajya Sabha LOP Mallikarjun Kharge in attendance.

After the suspension of the eight MPs, Gandhi wrote to Speaker Om Birla, saying he adhered to his direction to authenticate the magazine report but was still prevented from speaking in the House in violation of a “long-standing convention” of members quoting or referring to documents after authentication.

After the House saw several adjournments as Opposition MPs protested, Speaker Om Birla said last Friday he cannot run “such a House”. The Speaker noted that, due to disruptions during the current session, 19 hours and 13 minutes had been wasted.

The Speaker said he wants the House to run smoothly, pointing out that people have elected members to raise their issues, not to shout slogans.

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. … Read More

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Babar Azam's place in the Pakistan cricket team is being questioned due to his slow performance in the T20 World Cup opener against the Netherlands. According to former India cricketer Ravi Shastri, Babar is struggling with the pressure of expectations and needs to focus on hitting boundaries and adapting to the middle overs.