Congress upset over conduct of Om Birla, Jagdeep Dhankhar :Question on the grand inquest of the nation

Parliament can hardly remain the grand inquest of the nation if free speech leading to fearless discussion is throttled, says party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi

(Left) Sansad TV footage shows Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla conducting proceedings in the House on February 2. (Right) Sansad TV footage shows Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar in the House on February 2.

Sanjay K. Jha   |   TT  |  New Delhi   |  13.02.23  : The Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairperson are the custodians and defenders of free speech in Parliament and if they fail to do their duty, Indian democracy will be at risk, the Congress said on Sunday, drawing attention to the conduct of Om Birla and Jagdeep Dhankhar.

“Parliament can hardly remain the grand inquest of the nation if free speech leading to fearless discussion is throttled,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.

Legislatures the world over have been described as “grand inquest of the nation” — a place where acts of the government are examined to ensure nothing is amiss — and India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru often stressed this in the Indian context.

On Sunday, Singhvi said: “The BJP government is moving towards establishing an authoritarian dominance in Parliament by terrifying, terrorising, tormenting, and tyrannising the Opposition.”

The Congress sees a design by the Narendra Modi government to establish “authoritarian dominance” in Parliament, and believes Speaker Birla and chairperson Dhankhar are aiding that project instead of fulfilling their role of conducting the House impartially as holders of constitutional offices.

While the Opposition has complained of discrimination in the past, when Sumitra Mahajan and Venkaiah Naidu were at the helm, the sense of dismay never triggered an open conflict.

Contending that Dhankhar’s conduct made him nostalgic for Venkaiah Nadu, who was a veteran BJP leader unlike his successor, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told The Telegraph: “Dhankhar is blatantly partisan and unwilling to listen to the Opposition without giving a useless running commentary.”

Ramesh, who is the Congress communications chief, was speaking about Dhankhar because he is also the party’s chief whip in the Rajya Sabha. On Birla, he had tweeted a few days ago: “With the expunging of Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on PM-linked MahaMegaScam, democracy was cremated in the Lok Sabha. Om Shanti.”

The Congress had written separate letters to Birla and Dhankhar earlier this week, recording its objections after large parts of the speeches of Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, who had both questioned the government on the Adani Group, were expunged.

Singhvi said on Sunday: “You have all heard speeches of both Rahul and Kharge in the two Houses respectively. Not a word stated therein justifies the use of the power of expunction. No unparliamentary language, no expletive, no debasement of any institution, no objectionable or abusive word or phrase. There is absolutely nothing which is remotely defamatory or indecent or unparliamentary or undignified.”

Describing the Modi government as “command-freak Sarkar”, Singhvi said: “On February 10, the Rajya Sabha witnessed yet another example of this, yet another low in a series of unprecedented heights of undemocratic behaviour and sad precedents created at the behest of this autocratic government. Congress MP Rajni Patil was suspended for alleged video recording of House proceedings during the Prime Minister’s speech. No showcause notice was issued and no prior intimation was given.”

Pointing out that Rule 257 of the Rajya Sabha was invoked for the suspension, the spokesperson said: “It is part of a set of rules empowering suspension in respect of ‘persistent and wilful’ obstruction of House proceedings by a member, in a situation where such conduct makes the running of the House impossible for the Chair. Assuming that any video recording was made, it cannot possibly amount to ‘persistent and wilful’ misconduct. At worst, it was a one-time, first-time alleged act, yet to be proved and could not possibly constitute any persistent, consistent or repetitive obstructive course of conduct.

“Natural justice was inverted on its head. While referring the issue to the privileges committee, coercive action was taken against her before the determination of any relevant fact, before the finding of any culpability and before even the commencement, much less the conclusion, of even the vestige of any inquiry. All elementary notions of fair play were thus thrown to the winds.”

Singhvi said: “The Speaker and the Chairperson are constitutional office-holders and the custodians and defenders of freedom of speech inside the Houses which is a fundamental pillar of our democracy. Without their robust shield, the spirit of healthy parliamentary discussion and debate will perish. Freedom of speech is the foundation of our Constitution and even more so within the legislature.

“If the two Houses cease to be a space for free speech, then we will no longer be able to call ourselves a democracy. Unless free, frank and fearless discussion is allowed to take place within the two Houses of Parliament, democracy is fundamentally and irreversibly imperilled.”