Be impartial, don’t stifle India’s voice: Rahul, oppn netas to Birla

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New Delhi: Indulging in no pleasantries barring customary congratulations, the opposition on Wednesday told Speaker Om Birla that he should be “impartial” in his treatment of the opposition, and invoked mass suspension of members to rubbish the arguments that previous Lok Sabha witnessed high productivity — in what is seen as setting the tone for the coming term of the 18th House.
Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Sudip Bandopadhyay (TMC), T R Baalu (DMK), Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena-UBT), Supriya Sule (NCP-SP), N K Premachandran, made biting comments, and stated that suspension of members hurts the dignity of the House. Crucially, many MPs including AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi said the opposition has better strength than in the past, and “BJP won’t be able to steamroll.” National Conference MP Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi lamented that a Muslim MP was called a terrorist in the last LS, which was a blot on the Chair’s record. As the expected bonhomie disappeared quickly, Birla even had to cut short some members and admonish some.
On his first day as the leader of opposition and dressed in white kurta instead of his trademark T-shirt, Rahul Gandhi warmly escorted Birla to the Chair in company with PM Narendra Modi. But his short speech in English, measured in tone in contrast to the decibel levels and rhetoric of his past interventions, drove home that “cooperation happens on the basis of trust”.
He said, “This House represents the voice of India’s people and you, Speaker sir, are the final arbiter of that voice … the opposition also represents the voice of India’s people and this time, the opposition represents significantly more voice of the Indian people than it did last time.” He said the Speaker will be defending the Constitution by helping the opposition.
In what sounded like a riposte to Modi lavishing praise on Birla for overseeing record business in the 17th LS, Rahul said the issue is how much of “India’s voice” is heard in the House, and not how efficiently it is run. “The idea that you can run the House efficiently by silencing the voice of the opposition is a non-democratic idea ... This election has shown that the people of India expect the opposition to defend the Constitution.”
The words, at once laced with plea for Chair’s indulgence and warning of opposition’s intent, were echoed by Akhilesh Yadav who, speaking in easy Hindi, conveyed the message with two terse comments — “your control should be on the treasury benches too, as it is always there on the opposition” and “the House should run on your directions, and not the opposite”.
“We believe you will move forward without discrimination… You are the chief justice of the court of democracy…actions like suspensions which hurt the dignity of the House will not be taken,” he said. Baalu said, “Kindly be impartial, impartial, impartial.” TMC’s Bandopadhyay recalled the suspension of 150 MPs in a day, to the jeers of “shame” from the INDIA benches. He also asserted that secularism and harmony should be upheld.
While slamming the absence of condolence and tears on issues like Manipur, Covid deaths, farm suicides, Sena’s Sawant remarked that the House wants “harmony, not hatred”. The NC MP slammed the “hasty” passage of the bill for nullification of Article 370.
Akhilesh regretted that the new Parliament building has “lowered” the Chair of the Speaker, while it is “very high” in the “House” he just was, a reference to the UP assembly. Though it mentioned a fact, it was also viewed as sarcasm in view of the day’s context.