The expunging on Tuesday of certain remarks laced with controversial religious references made by Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi during his fiery speech in the Lok Sabha a day earlier, targeting BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, prompted Rahul to urge Speaker Om Birla to restore the expunged statements.
“This selective expunging defies logic, Rahul stated.”
Certain remarks the Congress leader made during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address in the Lok Sabha on Monday have been expunged.
A defiant Rahul said truth can be expunged in the world of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but not in reality, hours after significant parts of his Lok Sabha speech were deleted by the Chair.
“Whatever I had to say, I have said and that is the truth. They can expunge as much as they want, but the truth will prevail,” Rahul told reporters in Parliament complex.
In a letter to Birla, Rahul has stated that removing his considered remarks from records goes against the very tenets of Parliamentary democracy and that they should be restored. Rahul cited BJP MP Anurag Thakur’s speech, saying it was full of allegations but surprisingly only one word was expunged from it. He said “this selective expunction defies logic”.
BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj gave a notice in the Lok Sabha, pointing out alleged inaccuracies in the maiden speech Leader of the Opposition made in the House.
Asked by Speaker Om Birla about it, Swaraj said the LoP made certain “inaccurate” statements in his speech on Monday, and urged the Chair to take cognisance of her notice.
Under Direction 115 of the Speaker, a member wishing to point out any mistake or inaccuracy in a statement made by a Minister or any other member can, before referring to the matter in the House, write to the Speaker pointing out the particulars of the mistake or the inaccuracy and seek permission to raise the issue.
The member may place before the Speaker such evidence as she or he has in support of the allegation. The Speaker can bring the matter to the notice of the Minister or the member concerned to ascertain the factual position.
Later significant portions of the Congress leader’s speech were expunged from the records early this morning by the Chair.
In his first speech as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul had launched a no-holds-barred attack on the BJP, accusing the leaders of the ruling party of dividing people on communal lines.
The former Congress president wrote: “While the Chair has the power to expunge certain remarks from the proceedings of the House, the stipulation is only about those kinds of words, the nature of which have been specified in Rule 380 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha. I am, however, shocked to note the manner in which considerable portions of my speech have been simply taken out of the proceedings under the garb of expunction.”
“I am constrained to state that the portions expunged do not come under the ambit of Rule 380. What I sought to convey in the House is the ground reality and the factual position. Every member of the House who personifies the collective voice of people whom he or she represents has the freedom of speech as enshrined in Article 105(1) of the Constitution of India,” he said.
He asserted that it was every member’s right to raise matters of people’s concern on the floor of the House. “It is that right and in exercise of my obligations to the people of the country that I was exercising yesterday,” he said.
