Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla on Friday said that the members should maintain their dignity and abstain from making remarks against the Chair inside and outside the house. Birla was alluding to Mahua Moitra’s boorish behaviour inside the Lok Sabha and her social media post where she criticised the Chair and accused it of taking her valuable time.
“Honourable members, I would like to raise an issue today. Whether inside the house or outside, comments made on the Chair is not good for the dignity of the house. The dignity of the house is sacrosanct and every honourable member respects it. The Chair always tries to be impartial and work impartially, runs the house in accordance with the rules and allots honourable members enough time to speak in the house. I humbly request that members should refrain from making comments about the chair inside or outside the house,” Birla said while referring to Moitra but explicitly naming her.
Birla further added that if there are differences between a member and the Chair, then they can visit his chamber and express their grievances with him. “The dignity of the parliamentary democracy should be protected at all times. I have taken serious cognisance of the events from the past few days. I want to request all members that making remarks against the Chair, especially outside the house and on social media and media is inappropriate and not right. You are the member of the house and you may have a difference with the Chair sometimes, so you can come to my chamber and tell me about that. I will listen to you,” he added.
Birla also expressed his gratitude to the members for attending parliamentary proceedings late into the night during biting winter and asked them to maintain the dignity of the house.
Opposition leaders express solidarity with Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, reiterate the need to maintain the dignity of the House
Soon after Birla’s remarks, opposition leaders expressed their solidarity with the Speaker and shared the sentiments expressed by him.
The Leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury expressed his support to the Speaker and assured him that his party will cooperate with the Chair.
Sudip Bandyopadhyay, TMC MP, said that he wholeheartedly agreed with the Speaker’s sentiments. “We are certain of the opinion that the prestige of the house should always be kept at a level where we should all remain committed to that principles, ideas and philosophy of this house,” said Bandopadhyay.
Arvind Sawant, a member of Lok Sabha from Shiv Sena, also concurred with the Speakers’ sentiments, stating that members of the house ought to respect the Chair. He said members of the house follow the tradition of joining their heads and bowing in front of the Chair while sitting and standing up from their seats and thus, they should not indulge in activities that lower the dignity of the chair and the house. He further added that members should not inconvenience others while leaving the house and should make their exit as imperceptibly as possible.
A Raja of the DMK also asserted that the dignity of the house should be maintained, stating that their party agrees with the concern raised by the honourable Speaker.
Farooq Abdullah, the National Conference MP, exalted the status of the Speaker to the Father of the House. He said the Speaker of the House is the Father of the House and one should always treat the Chair the Speaker represents with utmost dignity and respect.
The remarks were in response to a series of tweets posted by TMC MP Moitra where she alleged that the Chair interrupted her and accused it of taking away her allotted time.
Mahua Moitra lashes out at Speaker, accuses the Chair of cutting short her allotted time in Lok Sabha
“LS Speaker had allotted AT LEAST 13 mins to me when confronted in his chamber, he claimed he was not in chair hence can’t be blamed. When further cornered, he said – It was my greatness that I even allowed you 13 mins in 1st place. Unbelievable,” Moitra tweeted.
In a subsequent tweet, she added, “And who is Chair to interrupt me (taking up MY valuable time) to lecture me on whether I should speak with gussa or pyar? None of your business Madam. You can only correct me on rules. You are NOT the moral science teacher for LS.”
Earlier, Moitra had alleged that the Speaker, BJP MP from Bihar, Rama Devi, did not allow her to complete her allotted time of 13 minutes. Speaking to the media outside the parliament, a visibly livid Mahua said, “It is a sad day for our democracy and our republic that an elected member who has been allotted 13 minutes by no less than the honourable speaker is cut off and not allowed to finish. That’s why I am having to stand outside and complete my speech.”
Such fear, such shamelesness. I had only paragraph left to finish, my alloted time of 13 mins was NOT over pic.twitter.com/Xy9PX7BHYE
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) February 3, 2022
“It is any of her business, is it her right to tell me how to give my speech? She asks me to not be angry while giving the speech. Whether I should speak in anger or with love, it is up to me. That is my tenor, that is my tone,” Mahua lashes out at Rama Devi
