New Delhi, Feb 02 (ANI): Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi speaks in Lok Sabha during the ongoing Budget Session, in New Delhi on Monday. (Sansad TV/ANI Video Grab)
New Delhi [India], February 3 (ANI): Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday wrote to Speaker Om Birla, alleging that he was deliberately prevented from speaking on matters of national security during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.
In his letter, Gandhi said he had followed parliamentary convention by authenticating a document he intended to cite in the House, but was still not permitted to quote or refer to it. He stated that the Speaker had directed him to authenticate the magazine during his speech the previous day, which he did before resuming his address on Tuesday.
“By long-standing convention, including repeated rulings of past Speakers, a Member who wishes to refer to a document in the House is required to authenticate it and affirm responsibility for its contents. Once this requirement is fulfilled, the Speaker allows the Member to quote or refer to the document,” Gandhi wrote.
He added that once a document is authenticated, it becomes the responsibility of the government to respond, and the role of the Chair stands concluded. Gandhi alleged that despite fulfilling this requirement, he was prevented from speaking, which he said violated established parliamentary convention.
“Preventing me from speaking in the Lok Sabha today not only violates this convention, but also gives rise to a serious concern that there is a deliberate attempt to prevent me, in my capacity as the Leader of the Opposition, from speaking on matters of national security,” the letter said.
Gandhi emphasised that national security was a key part of the President’s Address and therefore required discussion in Parliament. He further stated that it was the Speaker’s constitutional duty to protect the rights of all Members, including those in the Opposition.
“The right of the Leader of the Opposition and of each Member to speak is integral to our democracy,” Gandhi wrote, calling the denial of his opportunity to speak an “unprecedented” act and a “blot on our democracy.” He recorded his “strongest protest” against what he described as the Speaker acting on the behest of the government.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming the Prime Minister was “too afraid” to allow him to speak in Parliament on former Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane’s unpublished memoir and the Epstein files.
“PM Modi is compromised. PM is too afraid to let me speak in Parliament about Naravane, Epstein Files and how he has surrendered on tariffs,” Gandhi posted on X.
Meanwhile, eight opposition Members of Parliament were suspended from the Lok Sabha for the remainder of the Budget Session for violating House rules and allegedly throwing papers at the Chair during the uproar.
The suspension followed protests over Gandhi’s insistence on referring to a specific account related to the 2020 standoff with China in eastern Ladakh. The House witnessed two adjournments earlier in the day before resuming proceedings at 3 pm.
Gandhi later said he would not refer to any magazine article related to General Naravane’s memoir, but would speak on Chinese actions during the Kailash Range standoff and the government’s response. The government maintained that he could not quote from an unpublished memoir or a magazine article based on it.
The MPs suspended for the remainder of the session include Congress leaders Hibi Eden, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Prashant Yadaorao Padole, Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy, and Dean Kuriakose, along with CPI(M) MP S. Venkatesan. (ANI)
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