No debate in Parliament is Opposition’s loss, Government has majority: Rijiju

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday said if debates do not take place in Parliament, it will be a loss for the Opposition as the ruling alliance has the majority and will have no problem in passing anything in the House.

But the Government wants everything to be passed after a debate, the Parliamentary Affairs minister said, amid the ongoing stand-off between the Government and the Opposition in Parliament.

Talking to reporters in the Parliament House complex, Rijiju also said that the Opposition is free to bring a no-confidence motion against Speaker Om Birla, but it does not have the numbers to remove him.

He also accused the Opposition of insulting the institution of the Speaker by climbing on his table and that of the table officers, and storming into the Speaker’s room.

Rijiju said the Government could have asked the Speaker to take stronger action, but it was okay with his decision to suspend eight Opposition MPs.

The minister said the Government wants to run the House and is ready to talk to the Opposition.

“Now I have heard that Rahul (Gandhi) went to meet the Speaker with four points (conditions), including withdrawal of the suspension of the MPs. They have not said such things to me. From the Government’s side, we are very clear that we want the House to function properly since the beginning and even today.

“But I cannot agree to a situation where the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, will speak, make accusations, then create a ruckus and not let others speak. That will not happen. We will not agree to that. If Congress speaks, then we will insist that other members also be allowed to speak. We will not allow only the Congress party to speak,” Rijiju said.

He said if Gandhi wants to speak and then create a turmoil, then it will be a loss for the Opposition.

The Government has the majority and it will ensure passage of the Budget in the way the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address was passed, the minister said.

“The Government has the majority, and the Government has no problems in the passage of any issue. But we want everything to be passed after a debate,” he said.

There should be debate in the House and every party, even small parties with only one or two MPs, should be given a chance to speak, he added.

Referring to the discussions a group of Congress leaders had with Birla, Rijiju said the delegation came with certain conditions.

He said the delegation demanded that Gandhi be allowed to speak separately for two minutes.

“We said why should he get a chance to speak separately when the debate on the Budget is going on. The Congress team, which included senior leader KC Venugopal, said Gandhi wanted to raise some issues -- women MPs, about certain remarks by the Speaker and some issues which they did not disclose,” the minister said.

“We said that if the House has to function smoothly, MPs and other parties will also speak. The Speaker has agreed to that,” he said.

All parties, especially the big parties, should get a chance to speak and only then can the House function and the debate on the Budget can go on, he added.

But before this, there has to be an agreement that after Gandhi speaks for two minutes, no disruptions will be allowed, Rijiju said.

“Allowing to speak means the House has to function smoothly. You will speak and you will speak on some unwarranted issues and then there will be problems. We can’t put the Speaker in trouble, nor can you mislead the Speaker,” he said.