Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 10: The opposition parties in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday submitted a no-confidence motion against the Speaker Om Birla who promptly responded to the move asking the Lower House secretariat to “examine the notice and expedite the process.”
The letter refers to recent instances, including Rahul Gandhi not being allowed to complete his speech during the Motion of Thanks discussion and the suspension of eight Opposition MPs. The motion carrying 118 signatures, was submitted to the Lok Sabha secretary general Utpal Kumar Singh by Congress leaders K Suresh, Gaurav Gogoi, and Md Javed.
West Bengal ruling party the Trinamool Congress (TMC) did not join other Opposition parties in signing the motion against the speaker. While agreeing with the objective, the party’s national general secretary and Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee argued for an alternate path of “restraint” and a “constructive and calibrated” approach.
Though TMC appeared reluctant to resort immediately to the “last option” of moving for the removal of the Speaker, it expressed no such hesitation in pursuing an impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. In the CEC’s case, Mr Banerjee said, all avenues had been “explored and exhausted.”
Mr Banerjee said the party had “no problem signing the no‑confidence motion against the Speaker,” but insisted on first sending a letter outlining the Opposition’s grievances. “Let it be incumbent on the Speaker to act on the four grievances. And if he doesn’t act, then we can unitedly move a no-confidence motion,” he said. But minutes after his remarks, the Congress leaders met Mr Singh and submitted the resolution seeking Mr Birla’s removal under Article 94(c) of the Constitution.
The TMC, Mr Banerjee said, had already conveyed its position to the Congress and other Opposition partners. When asked whether the Congress had jumped the gun by ignoring this suggestion, he replied, “We are more tolerant… otherwise what is the difference between BJP and us?”
Mr Birla’s response to the no-confidence motion came within an hour of its submission. He asked the Lok Sabha secretariat “to examine the no-confidence notice and to expedite the process.” The resolution alleged Mr Birla of acting in a “blatantly partisan manner” in the conduct of the Lok Sabha proceedings. The notice also states that the Leaders of Opposition parties have repeatedly been denied a chance to speak in the House, a move they said is a denial of their basic democratic right.
The Lok Sabha has been mired in a prolonged logjam amid the ongoing Budget session. In earlier efforts to break the deadlock, Birla met with the top brass of the Centre and the Opposition leaders, including LoP Rahul Gandhi, Trinamool Congress’s Abhishek Banerjee, and Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav.
Opposition leaders presented several demands, including allowing the Leader of the Opposition to speak and reconsidering the suspension of eight MPs. Earlier, Congress leader KC Venugopal hinted at action against the Speaker, accusing the Chair of sidelining the Opposition and not allowing its members to raise significant issues.
The Lok Sabha has been witnessing repeated adjournments, sloganeering and a continued impasse since last week, when Rahul Gandhi sought to quote excerpts from an unpublished book by former army chief General (retired) MM Naravane on India-China ties. Amid constant disruptions, the Lok Sabha witnessed a historic event. For the first time in 22 years, the motion of thanks to the President for her address was passed in the Lok Sabha without the prime minister’s reply to the debate.
Om Birla had alleged that he received credible information that many Congress MPs “might have reached the PM’s seat and cause some “unexpected incidents” when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was originally scheduled to speak in the Lower House on Wednesday. Ultimately, the PM did not deliver his address, and on Thursday, the President’s speech was passed through a voice vote. However, the Opposition has rubbished these allegations.
Reiterating the TMC party’s preference for restraint, Mr Banerjee said, “Our approach has always been constructive and calibrated. Instead of trying to flex muscles, we want to give an opportunity to the Chair. If our issues are not addressed in three days, we can always move an impeachment motion. There is no place for ambiguity or doubt. Make no mistake.”
He also criticised the Union government, holding it directly responsible for the dysfunctional functioning of the Lok Sabha. “We want the House to function properly, but it appears the Union government does not. The House has been adjourned twice, and the Speaker has not come to the House. From 2 p.m. yesterday until 11 a.m. today, the House remained adjourned. If you truly intend to ensure the House functions properly, why would you adjourn it for such a long period?” he asked.
According to sources, the TMC believes pressure should be escalated step by step rather than taking a maximalist position. They also fault the Congress for making unilateral decisions. This stand-off, one MP said, is proving costly for other members who are unable to secure time to speak in the House.
Reflecting his colleagues’ concerns, Mr Banerjee said, “The people of the country have sent us here to speak on their behalf. But the Union government does not want the House to function. MPs are present to raise questions during Question Hour and articulate people’s demands during Zero Hour, but no one is getting the opportunity because the government does not want these houses to operate.”
On the move against the CEC, Mr Banerjee said the TMC had run out of options. “We held meetings, staged protests, the Chief Minister wrote six letters, and our delegation met the CEO and the CEC. Over the past three months, we have sent 100–150 letters but received no response. Impeachment is the last resort,” he said.
The Congress on Monday had claimed that there “is no space for Opposition” in the Lok Sabha. The Congress MP K.C. Venugopal alleged that Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leader were not being allowed to air their views in the Lower House, while the government side can state whatever they want and even make “derogatory remarks” against the opposition member.
“The government side can speak anything. They can attack anybody, speak derogatory things, even against those who are not alive. The Speaker is making allegations against Congress women MPs. There is no space for Opposition in this house at all,” Mr Venugopal told reporters in Parliament House complex.
“Whether it is the LoP or other Opposition leaders, they are not being allowed to speak. This type of attitude toward the opposition has not been there at any time,” he said and added that the entire Opposition was united. The Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday shared two videos of the ruckus led by the Opposition in Lok Sabha, while terming their behaviour “most degrading.”
In one of the videos, shared on X, from the Lok Sabha session on February 4, several women MPs from the Opposition were seen crossing over to the treasury side and holding up a banner in protest. Following this, the NDA MPs could be seen asking the Opposition MPs to move away from the seats.
Rijiju claimed that the BJP MPs were stopped from confronting the Opposition leaders. “Congress Party is proud of the most degrading behaviour by their MPs !! If we had not stopped all BJP MPs and allowed the Women MPs to confront Cong. MPs, it would have led to very ugly scene. We have very high consideration, to protect the dignity & sanctity of the Parliament,” the union minister said.
Following this, Rijiju posted another videos where the Opposition leaders were seen allegedly reaching the Well of the House, and questioned their conduct. “Who can justify such behaviours from the Honb’le MPs? The direction from our leadership was very clear that we must maintain the dignity of the house and no BJP MP should get into physical confrontation with the rude opposition MPs,” Rijiju said in his post alongside the video.
Rijiju also supported the BJP women MPs, who had filed a complaint with the Lok Sabha speaker alleging that Congress members had crossed parliamentary limits. “The BJP MPs, especially the women MPs, have lodged a strong complaint to the Lok Sabha speaker against the behaviour of the Congress MPs. The Congress MPs crossed over to the Treasury side. They crossed the bench where the Prime Minister sits, and they went beyond towards the Treasury side, and they almost laid the siege of the entire area,” Rijiju said.
In their letter to Birla, the BJP members had alleged that the Opposition MPs “not only laid a siege of the seat of the Prime Minister but also moved deep inside the treasury benches where senior ministers are seated.” This came after the women MPs from Congress in a letter to the Speaker alleged that the ruling party forced him to make “false, baseless, and defamatory” claims against them.