New Delhi, Feb 9: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday said Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi must be allowed to put forth his concerns in the Lok Sabha and described as “absolutely bizarre” the “denial of the right to speak to one side” in the House.
Tharoor, who was to initiate the discussion on the Union Budget, said yielded to Gandhi to make his remarks before his speech, but both his and the LoP’s microphones were cut off.
The Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram wondered what the Speaker and the government wanted.
“The situation is very strange. I don’t know whether the Speaker or the government do not want the House to debate the Budget. Very clearly, there is a long-standing tradition of the House, of more than 70 years, that when two people ask for the floor, it is always given — first is the LoP and the other is the minister for Parliamentary Affairs,” Tharoor told reporters in the Parliament House complex after the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day.
“Now we have had two successive presiding officers who refused to let the LoP speak, whereas the minister for Parliamentary Affairs, whenever he raises his hand, is given the floor. That is not correct. You cannot favour the government side like this. The House belongs to all of us,” the Congress leader said.
The government has the right to reply in due course and no one is going to prevent them from replying, he said.
Tharoor further said, “He (Gandhi) should be allowed to lay his concerns on the table. When you do not allow him to speak, you actually undermine the purpose of Parliament which is the House for discussion and deliberation. So I do not understand what instructions these presiding officers came with, but they simply would not let Rahul Gandhi ji speak.” “So when I got the mic on the Budget, I said I yield to the LoP, ‘let him speak’. Then they cut off my mic and the LoP’s mic. I don’t understand what the government and Speaker want?” he said.
In Parliament, both sides have the right to speak, but to deny one side the right to speak is “absolutely bizarre”, Tharoor said “It is not the parliamentary culture that we have been accustomed to over seven decades of democracy. He (Gandhi) was standing up to clarify some of the allegations made against the opposition that women MPs were to attack the PM etc… How would we know what he would have said?” Tharoor added.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day amid a stand-off between the government and the opposition over Gandhi’s demand that he be allowed to speak before the discussion on the Union Budget begins.
When the House met at 2 pm after two adjournments, Sandhya Ray, who was in the Chair, asked Congress member Shashi Tharoor to initiate the debate on the Budget.
Tharoor told the Chair that Gandhi, being the LoP, should be allowed to raise certain points before he starts his speech.
Ray said if Gandhi wanted to speak on the Budget, she had no issues and asked him to begin.
Gandhi said an agreement was reached at a meeting between Speaker Om Birla and some opposition MPs that he would be allowed to raise certain points before the Budget discussion, but the Chair was now going back on its word.
Ray said she was not aware of any such agreement and that she could not allow anyone to raise any issue without notice.
At this point, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju intervened, saying there was no such agreement and if the LoP wanted to say something about the Speaker, then Birla should also be present in the House to respond.
Rijiju also said other members of the House would also speak on the subject and there would be a broader discussion.
With neither side budging from its position, Ray adjourned the House for the day. (PTI)
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