Union Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday posted a video of her lok Sabha speech in 2013 in which the then Speaker, Meira Kumar, now an Opposition presidential candidate, is seen repeatedly interrupting the then leader of the Opposition and seemingly not extending “protection” to Sushma against the disruptions caused by the then senior UPA Ministers.
“This is how lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar treated the leader of Opposition,” Sushma tweeted along with a link to the over six-minute-long video of her address in April, 2013. Sushma had accused the UPA Government of corruption in her speech.
Sushma was apparently questioning the neutrality of Kumar, pitted against BJP-led National Democratic Alliance candidate Ram Nath Kovind for the presidential contest. The External Affairs Minister also tweeted a link to a newspaper report with the headline “Speaker interrupted Sushma 60 times in 6-minute speech.”
Sushma, as the then leader of the Opposition in the lok Sabha, had lashed out at the Manmohan Singh-led regime on alleged financial scams, calling it “the most corrupt Government” since Independence.
In the video, Kumar repeatedly said “thank you”, “all right” to Sushma, indicating that the MP had to cut short her address. Sushma had later said the Speaker did not “protect” her when a number of senior Ministers raised a ruckus during her speech in the lok Sabha.
Kumar, daughter of Congress leader Jagjivan Ram, occupied Speaker’s office between 2009 and 2014, during the UPA’s second term.
The Opposition last week nominated Kumar, 72, a Dalit leader from Bihar and former Minister, as its candidate against former Bihar Governor and Dalit activist Kovind, who is likely to succeed Pranab Mukherjee as the President because of the NDA’s strength in Parliament and State Assemblies.