Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that the Lok Sabha had become a “loudspeaker” of the government and said it was an “insult” to the people of Tamil Nadu that members from the southern state were not allowed to ask questions on the regional language issue in the lower house.
His remarks came after opposition members, including from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) walked out of the Lok Sabha claiming they were not allowed to ask a supplementary question related to the official language during Question Hour.
Gandhi told reporters outside Parliament that he had not been allowed to ask a supplementary on Monday on a question on the 50 biggest wilful defaulters and it happened to opposition members on a question related to the Tamil language.
“Now it is OK for the speaker to hurt me, I understand he doesn’t want me to speak. I am an MP and have certain rights. He can take those away. But today the entire Tamil people wanted to ask a supplementary about the Tamil language,” he said.
“This is not about one person, this is not about Rahul Gandhi, this is about the people of Tamil Nadu and their language and even they were not allowed to ask that question, this is absolutely an insult to the people of Tamil Nadu. It is unacceptable,” the Congress leader said.
{{/usCountry}}“This is not about one person, this is not about Rahul Gandhi, this is about the people of Tamil Nadu and their language and even they were not allowed to ask that question, this is absolutely an insult to the people of Tamil Nadu. It is unacceptable,” the Congress leader said.
{{/usCountry}}The people of Tamil Nadu have every right to defend their language, to believe in their language and to speak in their language, he added.
The former Congress president alleged that speaker Om Birla took away the rights of the people of Tamil Nadu by not allowing the supplementary question on their language.
The people of Tamil Nadu and their language have been attacked, he claimed. “This is a House that belongs to all states, all languages. There should be a discussion here, but no discussion is happening these days. Nobody can ask a question. There is one-way traffic and it (Lok Sabha) has become a loudspeaker,” Gandhi alleged.
Later, in a tweet, Gandhi said the people of Tamil Nadu were “disrespected” when the Lok Sabha speaker refused to allow the supplementary question on the Tamil language.
“I strongly protest this injustice done to the Tamil people and the disregard for established practises and traditions of Parliament,” he said.
Some opposition members stood up in protest when minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai was replying to a question related to the official language.
As the speaker took up the next question during Question Hour, DMK leader TR Baalu protested and demanded that they be allowed to ask supplementary questions.
Amid the din, Gandhi intervened and said it was an issue close to the heart of the people of Tamil Nadu and that a supplementary should be allowed.
With the speaker continuing with the next question, members from various opposition parties, including the DMK, Congress and NCP walked out from the House.
Earlier in the Lok Sabha, the speaker said it was not right to raise questions on decisions of the chair outside the House. The remarks came a day after Gandhi said he was not allowed to ask supplementary questions in the Lok Sabha.
Birla has always been emphasising in the House that questions as well as answers should be kept short so that more issues can be taken up during Question Hour.
On Tuesday, some members, including from the Congress, wanted to ask supplementary questions.
“If one question takes around 15-20 minutes... and then saying supplementary questions are not being allowed after 12 (noon) is not good,” the speaker said.
Birla also said that raising questions against the decision of the chair outside the House was not right.