On Wednesday, February 2, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Om Birla schooled Wayanad MP and Congress senior leader Rahul Gandhi for interfering with Parliamentary norms during the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s speech in the Lok Sabha. It was when the senior Congress leader ‘permitted’ another MP to speak in between a segment of his speech, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla lambasted the Congress politician, saying, “You can’t give permission, that’s my right.”
Speaking first from the Opposition side on motion of thanks to the President’s speech in the Lok Sabha, the Congress leader, at around 25 minutes into the video, is seen taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying “The King does not listen to anybody”.
While criticising the BJP for not listening to anyone, the Gandhi scion said, “You do not listen to anybody and even not to my dear brother and sister in the BJP. I saw my Dalit colleague speak today, Paswanji. He knows the history of Dalit. He knows who has oppressed the Dalits for 3,000 years. But he is speaking with hesitancy. He is speaking without… I am proud of him. I am proud of this gentleman. He has spoken to me what is in his heart. But he is in the wrong party. Don’t worry… ghabraiye mat,” Rahul Gandhi said as he was criticising PM Modi and the BJP government.
When BJP MP Kamlesh Paswan was mentioned by Rahul Gandhi, Paswan rose up in protest, and the House descended into chaos. Paswan made a hand gesture towards the Speaker, requesting permission to speak out of turn. Om Birla retaliated by asking him to sit down. “Nahi beech mein nahi…baad main” (No… not in between..later), Om Birla tells told leader. At this point, the Congress leader very confidently asked Paswan to stop talking and turned to Om Birla and said: “Speaker sir… I am a democratic person… I will allow him to speak.”
The visibly irked Om Birla rebuked the Gandhi scion right away, informing him that giving permission to speak in the Lok Sabha is his right and not of the Congress leader. “Aap kisi ko ijazaat nahi de sakte, yeh adhikar mera hain” (You cannot give permission to anyone, this is my right), said Om Birla, leaving Rahul Gandhi completely embarrassed.
Similar to how Rahul Gandhi was schooled inside the Lok Sabha by Speaker Om Birla, many ministers also slammed Rahul Gandhi after he replied to the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi opined: “He (Rahul Gandhi) is a confused, mindless leader. He said that India is not a country. He said China’s vision is very clear. Have you come here to support China? Tibet problem is because of Congress only”, Joshi said hitting out at Rahul Gandhi.
S Jaishankar attacked the Congress senior leader by saying: “In Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi said we could not get a foreign guest for Republic Day. Those who live in India know we were in the midst of a corona wave. The 5 Central Asian Presidents, who were to come, did hold a virtual summit on Jan 27. Did Rahul Gandhi miss that as well?
Similarly, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed Rahul Gandhi by Tweeting: “Not only as India’s Law Minister but also as an ordinary citizen, I condemn what Mr Rahul Gandhi has said about India’s judiciary and EC. These are vital institutions of our democracy. Mr Rahul Gandhi should immediately apologise to the people, judiciary and EC.
Not only as India’s Law Minister but also as an ordinary citizen, I condemn what Mr. Rahul Gandhi has said about India’s judiciary and EC.
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) February 2, 2022
These are vital institutions of our democracy.
Mr. Rahul Gandhi should immediately apologise to the people, judiciary and EC. https://t.co/FJk2EPpBq5
Rijuju was responding to Rahul Gandhi’s remark where he had said that the “Judiciary, the Election Commission, Pegasus, these are all instruments of destroying the voice of the union of states.”
