Om Birla, Jagdeep Dhankhar are more vocal, visible. And up against an aggressive new Opposition

The conduct of both Speakers in Parliament last week is a vestige of the past decade. The Opposition’s pushback is evidence that politics ended on 4 June 2024.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla with Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar at his chamber in Parliament House | Photo: @VPIndia/X

Sixteen years ago, ten-time MP Somnath Chatterjee faced a dilemma. His party of four decades, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), wanted him to step down as Lok Sabha Speaker before the special session that passed the Indo-US civil nuclear deal. When Chatterjee refused, the CPI(M) expelled him, making him India’s first and only Lok Sabha Speaker without a party affiliation.

On 10 July 2008, Chatterjee’s office issued a statement to quell media speculation: “He [Chatterjee] was not elected as the nominee of any party. In the discharge of his duties and functions he does not owe allegiance to any political party. Since his election as Speaker, Shri Somnath Chatterjee has scrupulously kept himself away from all political activities.”

Years later, the non-partisanship of the Lok Sabha Speaker’s chair was called into question when Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, stated on the floor of the Lower House that Speaker Om Birla diminished the sanctity of his office by bowing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi while greeting him. In contrast, Birla stood upright when greeting Gandhi, his posture epitomising the power dynamic a Speaker ought to maintain with all members of the House, regardless of their party affiliation. Rattled, Birla responded by saying it was his sanskar to bow to “elders”.

Two days later and 300 metres away in the Rajya Sabha, an almost starry-eyed Jagdeep Dhankhar, the Speaker (Chairman) of the Upper House, told PM Modi that he is fortunate for becoming only the second Speaker in India’s history to hear a prime minister reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address in his third term. Clearly, he was basking in the PM’s glory without a sense of irony.

In the last ten years, a lot has changed in Indian politics. The government, the media, and Parliament have all become platforms to turn one individual into an “indomitable vehicle for History”, to use political commentator Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s words. The conduct of both Speakers in Parliament last week is a vestige of the past decade. The Opposition’s pushback is evidence that their conduct is indeed a remnant of a politics that came to an end on 4 June 2024.

This is why Om Birla and Jagdeep Dhankhar, and more importantly, the chairs they hold, are ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.

A changed Parliament

In December 2023, a record 146 MPs from both Houses were expelled from Parliament. During this time, an almost Opposition-free Parliament passed three new criminal Bills, which came into effect this week.

Six months later, the scenes in Parliament were markedly different. The Opposition was conspicuously present and assertive, with higher numbers than in the past decade and louder voices. In the first two days of parliament, it became clear that the two presiding officers were more vocal and visible too—benevolently smiling when PM Modi spoke, and appearing hostile and even annoyed when Rahul Gandhi did. In the process, they ended up grabbing a larger-than-usual share of airtime.

When Modi began his speech in the Lok Sabha amid loud sloganeering from the Opposition, he wasn’t wearing his noise-cancelling headphones. Less than five minutes into his speech, he was forced to put them on. The Speaker, despite his sincere attempts, could not mute the Opposition’s voice for the PM.

Akhilesh Yadav, president of the country’s third largest party, told Birla that he is the “chief justice of the court of democracy.” The former UP Chief Minister reminded Birla, with his characteristic disarming smile, that Parliament should function on the Speaker’s terms, not the other way round.

Gandhi, in his first speech as Leader of Opposition, was ballistic. He “proved” in the Lok Sabha how, in the last ten years, Parliament’s camera had become obsequious by demonstrating how it instantly shifted away when he picked up Lord Shiva’s portrait. Gandhi also pointedly referred to the “two selves” when drawing attention to Birla bowing before Modi but standing upright when shaking hands with him, questioning the Speaker’s impartiality. “When you hold a constitutional position, your individual aspirations should die,” he said. “You are the final arbiter of the Lok Sabha, the final word here. What you say fundamentally defines the Indian democracy.”

In the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition was equally belligerent, staging a walkout during the PM’s speech. Dhankhar responded by saying that the Opposition’s “amaryadit acharan” (undignified behaviour) disrespected not “me or you”, but the Constitution itself. Again, without a sense of irony, Dhankhar had demonstrated which side he was on.

The conduct of both Speakers drew sharp criticism. While Supreme Court lawyer Rohin Bhatt listed their actions that showed how they have “become political and legal players in their own right, acting in a partisan manner”, hoping they would “wake up to the constitutional importance of their posts”, social media has been awash with commentaries on them. One user on X called Dhankhar “disruptive” who “heckles members, mistreats and insults them, making snide remarks and insinuations”.

Another user shared a video of Birla chiding Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for saying “Jai Samvidhan” at the end of his oath. Birla remarked that since everyone is anyway taking an oath of the Constitution, the MP didn’t need to raise the slogan. When Deepinder Hooda responded that the Speaker should not have had an objection to Tharoor’s slogan, a miffed Birla told him off, saying, “Don’t give advice on what (I) should and should not have an objection to. Chalo baitho.”

If you want to live in India, you will have to say "Jai Samvidhan".
Shashi Tharoor did not say anything wrong.
Deepinder Hooda did not say anything wrong.
But did OM Birla do the right thing?#ResignOmBirla
जय संविधान
LOP Rahul Gandhi
Opposition Leader#ParliamentSession pic.twitter.com/cxk21MUcJ8

— Md Hafizur Rahman (@MdHafiz59473117) June 27, 2024

Going back to move forward

What transpired in the first session of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha after the elections sets the tone for the next five years. It appears that the two Speakers may be compelled to shed their learnings from the past decade of parliamentary functioning and look further back in history to effectively preside over this new, changed political landscape.

GV Mavalankar, the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha, was only too cognisant of the difficulty in maintaining the Speaker’s neutrality. “To expect the Speaker to be out of politics altogether without the corresponding convention is perhaps entertaining contradictory expectations,” he said in his acceptance speech in 1952.

Alluding to this dilemma, Nehru said in 1948, “We would like the distinguished occupant of this chair now and always to guard the freedom and liberty of those from every possible danger, even from the danger of an executive incursion. There is always that danger even from a National Government — that it may choose to ride roughshod over the opinions of a minority, and it is here that the Speaker comes in to protect each single member, or each single group from any such unjust activity by a dominant group or a dominant government.”

The 2024 elections is rich with political lessons and opportunities for all political actors, regardless of the side they are on. The Speakers of the two Houses of Parliament are no exception to this new reality.

Views are personal.

(Edited by Prashant)