Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday made his attack against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla more direct and fiercer alleging with no discussion happening the lower house had become a “loudspeaker” of the Government. He said not only him but even the Tamil Nadu MPs were disallowed from speaking on their mother language issues.
The former Congress chief also continued attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the economic situation in the country, saying the PM should get his head “out of the sand” to deal with the problem facing the country. Rahul said India should be preparing itself not just to fight the coronavirus but also for the economic devastation that would affect crores of people.
Rahul said it was an “insult” to the people of Tamil Nadu that MPs were not allowed to ask questions on the regional language issue, and alleged that with no discussion happening, the Lok Sabha had become a “loudspeaker” of the Government.
Rahul’s remarks came after Opposition members, including from the DMK, the Congress and the NCP, walked out of the Lok Sabha claiming they were not allowed to ask a supplementary question related to official language during the Question Hour.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Rahul said he was not allowed to ask a supplementary on Monday on a question on the 50 biggest wilful defaulters and the same happened to Opposition MPs on a question on the Tamil language.
Rahul alleged that the Speaker took away the rights of the people of Tamil Nadu by not allowing the supplementary question on their language.
“Now it is ok for the Speaker to hurt me, I understand he doesn’t want me to speak. But today the entire Tamil people wanted to ask a supplementary about the Tamil language. This is not about one person, this is not about Rahul Gandhi, this is about the people of Tamil Nadu and their language and even they were not allowed to ask that question, this is absolutely an insult to the people of Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Asked if he believes the Lok Sabha speaker is acting in a partisan manner, Rahul Gandhi said, “This is a House that belongs to all states, all languages. There should be a discussion here, but no discussion is happening these days. Nobody can ask a question.” “There is one-way traffic and it (Lok Sabha) has become a loudspeaker,” he said.
Later, in a tweet, Rahul said the people of Tamil Nadu were “disrespected” when the Speaker refused to allow a supplementary question on the Tamil language.
On the state of economy and COVID 19, he said Indian economy will be devastated and it is like a tsunami is coming Narrating an incident to highlight the gravity of the economic situation, he said that before the tsunami came, water receded off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and when fishermen went to sea, the tsunami struck.
“So the water is going to come. I have been warning the government that a massive (economic) tsunami is coming and they are fooling about, they are not clear about what to do. India should be preparing itself not just for COVID-19 virus but for the economic devastation that is coming,” he said.
“I am saying it again and again, nobody is listening to me. I am sorry to say, our people are going to go through unimaginable pain in the next six months,” he said.