New Delhi [India], February 3 : Leader of Opposition (LoP) Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday wrote to Speaker Om Birla, raising concerns over being prevented from speaking on matters of national security during the discussion on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address.
In his letter, he stated that he had followed parliamentary convention by authenticating a document he intended to cite, but despite fulfilling this requirement, he was not permitted to quote it in the lower house.
"Yesterday, while speaking on the Motion on the President's Address, you directed me to authenticate a magazine that I intended to refer to. I authenticated the document while resuming my speech today. 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. Thereafter, it becomes the responsibility of the Government to respond, and the role of the Chair stands concluded," the letter read.
He further alleged that being blocked from speaking in the Lok Sabha violated parliamentary convention and raised concerns that there was a deliberate attempt to stop him, stating, "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. It is worth repeating that national security was a key part of the President's Address, which requires a discussion in Parliament."
Rahul Gandhi said in his letter that it is the Speaker's constitutional duty to protect the rights of all Members, including the Opposition, and condemned the unprecedented denial of his right to speak on the President's Address as a "blot on our democracy".
The letter reads, "Speaker, as the impartial custodian of the House, it is your Constitutional and Parliamentary responsibility to safeguard the rights of every Member, including those of the Opposition. The right of the Leader of the Opposition and of each Member to speak is integral to our democracy. The refusal of these basic democratic rights has led to an unprecedented situation. For the first time in Parliamentary history, on the behest of the government, the Speaker has been forced to prevent the Leader of the Opposition from speaking on the President's Address. This is a blot on our democracy, against which I record my strongest protest."
Earlier in the day, Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that the latter was "too afraid" to let him speak in Parliament about former Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane's unpublished memoir and the Epstein files.
He said that the Prime Minister was "compromised" and under "extreme pressure".
"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, who is the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, posted on X.
Eight opposition members were suspended from the Lok Sabha for the remainder of the budget session for violating rules and "throwing papers on the chair" following uproar in the House over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's insistence on mentioning a specific reference about the standoff with China in eastern Ladakh in 2020.
The House, which witnessed two adjournments earlier in the day, resumed proceedings at 3 pm, and Rahul Gandhi said that he would not refer to any magazine article about former Army Chief Gen MM Naravane's memoirs but would make comments about Chinese action during the Kailash Range standoff with China and the government's response.
The government has said that Rahul Gandhi cannot quote from an unpublished memoir or a magazine article based on it.
The opposition MPs who have been suspended for the remainder of the session are Congress members Hibi Eden, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Prashant Yadaorao Padole, Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy, and Dean Kuriakose, and CPI(M)'s S Venkatesan.
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