New Delhi: Raising concerns over how Opposition MPs are not being allowed to speak, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked the BJP yet again, saying the House is an expression of the people of India and does not represent one party but the whole country.
Interjecting while senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad was speaking during the discussion on the No-Confidence Motion Discussion against Speaker Om Birla that was moved by the Opposition, Gandhi said, “Every time we get up to speak, we are stopped from speaking. The last time I spoke, I raised a fundamental question about the compromises that have been made by our PM… ”
The LoP’s comment drew strong protests from the treasury benches. Leading the counter-attack, Prasad declared that Prime Minister Narendra Modi can never be compromised, saying that the instrument of Opposition against the Speaker should not be weaponised to satisfy the ego of some leader or some group. “That is very important,” he said, making sure the reference to ego of some leader or group was not lost on anyone.
The BJP leader said that the Speaker’s chair has dignity though it has seen many ups and downs in the past. He recalled that 11 MPs who had taken money to ask certain questions were expelled from Parliament and no one had protested. “In the same House, there was a time when black pepper was thrown.”
The Congress, Prasad said, has moved a resolution to remove the Speaker but the same party did not allow H.R. Khanna, the “brave judge who decided from ADM Jabalpur that during an Emergency, people’s fundamental rights will not be taken away, to stay Chief Justice for even 45 days”.
The reference was to Justice Hans Raj Khanna who is is remembered for his dissenting opinion in the ADM Jabalpur vs Shivkant Shukla (1976) case, famously known as the Habeas Corpus case. Justice Khanna had asserted that even during an Emergency, the Right to Life and Liberty (Article 21) cannot be taken away by the state, arguing that the rule of law exists independently of the Constitution.
“And this party talks of democracy?” Prasad asked with a rhetorical flourish, adding for good measure that the entire Opposition was in jail during the Emergency.
“All the big leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narain, Madhu Dandavate and Chandrashekhar were in jail, and in their absence the Lok Sabha’s term was increased to six years from five years and all parliamentary privileges under Article 105 were as snatched,” Prasad drove home his point. Article 105 of the Constitution grants each House of Parliament, its members and committees the right to evolve their powers, privileges and immunities.
This led to loud protests from the Opposition benches, who gathered in the well of the House, raising slogans. Undeterred by the shouting, Prasad went on to say that there was no LoP in the house since the Constitution came into being till 1977. “For the first time, when the Janata Party came to power in 1977, when Morarji Desai became prime minister, YB Chavan became the LOP.
“I remember clearly that Morarji Desai’s address to the nation was followed by YB Chavan’s address. LK Advani was the Information and Broadcasting minister then. We established this culture,” he said.
Prasad said when during UPA’s first term the “cash for question case” was brought in Lok Sabha, then LoP LK Advani was not allowed to speak by then Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, and as a form of protest BJP chose to walk out.
“We didn’t come back even after the insistence by the Speaker because we didn’t agree with his conduct in the House,” Prasad said.
The BJP leader chided Gandhi, saying that as LoP he has to measure his word carefully. “The LoP is the shadow Prime Minister,” he said. Prasad also recalled that then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru while replying in a discussion on a No-Confidence Motion against the then Speaker had said that the “motion of removal is an abuse of intelligence… The LoP should understand the dignity of the House.”
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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